A New Beginning (A Percabeth Story)
by thehornedserpent
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Percy is taken to Camp Half-Blood. After rejection throughout high school, he seeks someone he can trust and have fun with. He's found someone, all right. Too bad she doesn't like him and already has a boyfriend. But... hopefully things will change. As Percy and Annabeth, along with Nico and an OC, embark on a quest, their relationship will endure many obstacles.
1. Chapter 1 - Camp Half-Blood

**Hey guys! If you're familiar with me, then you probably won't want to read this unless you have an odd like of SVTFOE and Percy Jackson (like me). If you're not familiar with me, then hello and welcome to my Percabeth fic! I always respond to reviews on the next chapter (that's kind of a routine of mine). We obviously don't have any reviews, so there won't be any on this chapter. Now that we're all caught up, let's start the story!**

 **Note: Please excuse any OoC moments (especially the firstf ew paragraphs of this chapter). It's been at least three years since I read the books, and I don't have them readily available. The wiki and my memory are my best assets at this point! So... try to bear with me. :)**

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There was silence during the whole first half of the trip. I mean, it made sense; something really awkward had just happened. My mom, Sally Jackson, had just gotten me up at five in the morning and rushed me into the car. The only explanation she had given was that she was sending me away to a summer camp. I wasn't happy with that. My mother and I had a very close bond, and I wanted to stay home with her over the summer (and play video games and live in relative peace.) Eventually, my thoughts started to turn to what I thought the camp would be like. Since I already hated it, my imagination thought up torturous activities: lava rock walls, capture-the-flag to the death. But that was all fantasy. The real torture would be the people.

See, there was something interesting about me. I had no idea why, but I was never accepted by peers, always blamed by adults, and never loved by anyone but my mother. Yes, that was the truth. My father deserted me, and my stepfather hated me. And a girlfriend-ha! That was unimaginable. Sure, I've crushed on a few girls-what sophomore hasn't? But the thought that any girl would actually like me back was laughable.

I know what you're thinking when I say this: man, this guy is just done!

Well, yeah. I am! I don't fit in anywhere-I'm too nice for the tough kids, my dyslexia and ADHD disqualify me from the smart kids, I'm not cool for obvious reasons, I can't play music, I can't play sports, I can't follow social etiquette without messing up, I can't attract girls, I can't, I can't, I can't. Seems like a pretty good description of my life. Life just kinda… sucks. I'm a stupid, clumsy, ADHD kid: perfect for laughingstock.

And yet there's one place where I'm welcome, one person who truly accepts and cares for me. My mom, of course. And I was being stripped of a whole summer of being home with her as she makes me tons of blue food and we watch movies together at night after Gabe had passed out from the alcohol and….

All right, that might be a bit overexaggerated, but my point is, I REALLY don't want to go to this camp, where there's a bunch of completely new people to laugh when I trip over my feet. Fun.

But I know what my mom would say: _A new beginning. New people to start over with._ So fine. Maybe this time would be different. Maybe I'd find someone like Grover (he had been my friend back in middle school, but I was expelled and never saw him again). But I doubted it.

Finally, I managed out: "Mom, why are you making me leave?" Dang, I felt like I was ten again, saying that. But like I said, my mom never judges.

"You'll understand when you get there, but… it's too dangerous for you to stay at home any longer. I should have taken you here years ago, but I wanted to keep you as long as I could. But the situation is getting bad now, and this is the only place you'll be safe."

"I'm going to hate it there."

"Try to give it a chance."

"The kids won't let me."

There was a short silence as my mom gathered her thoughts. "These kids aren't like the ones from any of your schools. They're like you. They all have the same troubles you do."

"Great, so we can all just throw a big pity party together."

"Percy, the people you meet here will be your friends for life. Trust me."

That left me with nothing to say.

Finally, the last moments with my mom dwindled away as the car came to a stop. In the middle of the forest.

"On my side," my mom instructed.

I got out of the car and came around to her side.

"Go past the pine tree there," she continued.

"Why don't I see anything like, oh, I don't know, a camp?"

"You'll understand everything soon."

Why did she keep saying that? Was she hiding something from me? I pushed that down and grudgingly confirmed, "So I just walk past it and a camp suddenly appears?"

"Yes."

I'll admit, some part of my brain considered asking her to come with me, but the rest of my brain was against it. A sixteen-year-old walking into camp afraid to leave his mom-I'd be the laughingstock of the year. Not that I wouldn't be anyway.

I was just about to say goodbye when my mom beat me to it. "I love you, Percy," she said. I've only ever heard those words spoken to me by one voice: hers. She hugged me, an embrace I returned and fully enjoyed.

We eventually pulled away, as all good things eventually come to an end.

"You'll be alright," my mom assured me. She cupped her hands on my cheeks and kissed me on the forehead.

In spite of myself, I smiled. "Thanks, mom."

My mom smiled. "My handsome boy."

Yeah, right. If I had a dollar for every time someone has insulted my face, I'd be filthy rich. My expression turned dark at that thought, but, seeing my mom's worried eyes, managed to give her a halfhearted smile.

"All right, goodbye," I said.

"Goodbye," my mom echoed.

I walked downhill to the pine tree and and took a few steps past it. Then I turned back. As I watched my mom disappear into the car and drive away, all the false confidence I'd built up in the last few minutes vanished.

I turned back around, my knees becoming weak. In front of me was a large house. Behind it was a line of cabins-no, not a line, the shape of… a Greek omega, I think. Or was that an upside-down horseshoe? Or a Colts logo? The last two were the same thing, weren't they? Ugh. All the while, my knees became weaker and weaker.

A sound from behind me caused me to turn around. Suddenly, a monster leaped at my face. My knees gave out from the fright, landing me on the butt. I screamed. I felt a harsh impact on my head.

As I calmed down, I recognized the monster as half-man, half-bull-a Minotaur.

But that was impossible, wasn't it?

As I kicked myself away from the beast, my hand landed in a puddle of water. _Not so, my son._ A voice said.

"Who said that?" I demanded. But there was no one in sight except the faraway campers who were just blurs. My attention once again diverted to the Minotaur, which I finally realized it was restrained by… something. Like some sort of force field. Hey, if I'm believing in Minotaurs and water ghosts claiming me as their child at this point, I'm not sure believing in force fields could hurt.

All of a sudden, strong arms come under my armpits and pick me up. The person then proceeded to drag me across the grass toward the house, muttering, "Stupid newbie."

Then I got a mouthful of long blond hair and realized that this was a girl. Yup, I was getting dragged across a field by a girl. There goes another hit on my track record.

The position we were in didn't allow me to turn around to see her face, so I instead checked her arms. She didn't seem particularly ripped. She was fit and well-muscled, which is something I couldn't say about myself. But could I really help it? The only physical activity I didn't suck at was swimming, and I refused to stand in front of an audience wearing a Speedo. Plus, physical activity often required the presence of other people-typically cocky kids that had every right to feel overconfident around me. It also required getting off the couch. Yeah, that, too.

My conclusion was that she was just a normal amount of strong and I was just scrawny.

Needless to say, I regarded the girl dragging me across the ground with some contempt. I groaned, at this point unable to speak coherently. My vision was growing black at the edges-and, no, that wasn't my hair.

Suddenly, the girl dropped me into the grass. Her hair disappeared from my vision. I saw a large multi-story house. Then again, there was no telling whether I could trust my vision at this point. I grew more and more faint as the seconds passed.

The last thing I remember seeing before losing consciousness was the girl with the long blond hair, now returned. Her features and jawline were sharply defined. She wore an orange T-shirt and a beaded necklace. It appeared that her hair had once been in a ponytail, but it had fallen out and now the hair band clung to a small lock of hair on the left side of her head. She seemed to be concentrated as she consoled me, "Hey, hey, it's all right. I'm just gonna have you drink

something and you should be fine. All right?" Not getting a reaction, she continued, "I promise, you'll be fine. Just give it a minute." The words were strangely comforting, even though they all blended together in my muddle head into incoherency. I smiled.

But something else took dominance over all my senses. My eyes locked on her stunning gray eyes. Focused. Stubborn. Contemplative. Tender. Concerned, even? To be honest, it reminded me of my mother. And… wait, did I taste her blue chocolate-chip cookies that I love?

"He's awake."

I suppose I should have expected to hear that immediately after I came to. I painstakingly turned my head to face the speaker. He was a tall boy of about my age. He had blond hair that was combed to the left and slightly tanned skin. He wore identical clothing to the Blond Girl: Orange T-shirt-which I now notices had the initials "CHB" surrounded by an intricate design on it in black ink-in addition to the beaded necklace and blue jeans scuffed from use (not those pre-torn ones you can buy).

My next genius observation was that Blond Girl stood in the room with Blond Guy, just a bit farther back.

"Who…?" I croaked out. My voice didn't want to work.

Somehow, Blond Guy heard me. "I'm Will Solace. And here, behind me, is the girl who rescued you, Annabeth Chase.

Blond Girl-I mean, Annabeth scoffed. "Rescuing? More like dragging."

"Trust me," Will countered, "your arrival is by far not the most embarrassing."

"True. At least he didn't end up like good 'ol Thal-"

"You can shut up now, Athena Girl."

"All right, Solace."

Just as she turned away to leave, I caught a last glimpse of her stormy eyes. Despite the mocking, I could see something else behind them. Concern. Caring. And that, well, I can hardly ever remember experiencing. Except by my mom. Why did Annabeth keep reminding me of her?

Of course, it took all of this long to register what Will had called her. "Athena?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. (Which probably didn't have the same effect while lying sideways with one's face mashed into the cot mattress.)

"You've got a lot to learn, bud. And for all your questions, I will turn you over to Chiron. Meanwhile, take some more of this. You should be able to take more at this point without your blood turning to lava."

"Excuse me?"

"Drink it. Doctor's orders."

"I bet you don't even have your driver's license yet. Why should I trust you?"

"Let's just say, I'm the son of the greatest healer in the world."

"All right, what the heck."

Will held a canteen toward my mouth, but I took it. "I can feed myself, Solace."

With an annoyed expression, Will glanced around the corner, shouting at Annabeth, who sat there, "Look what you taught him!"

I was honestly concerned with how well of a job Solace was doing. Half the time, he wasn't paying attention to me.

After staring at him skeptically, Will told be to drain it.

Immediately, the chocolate-chip cookie taste pervades my mouth again. It felt a bit weird consuming cookies in liquid form, but it was good nonetheless. I instantly started feeling better and even a little… I don't know, lighter. Like I had more energy. Honestly, I saw more canteens and would have drunk from them if not for the threat of lava-blood, which I could imagine wouldn't be pleasant. But I really was curious about the stuff. "What is this?" I asked Will.

"Well, it's nectar. Just the fact that you're still alive means that you're not entirely human, which we'll get to later."

"I'm not human." I asked flatly.

"I told you, leave it for Chiron. Anyway, it heals you-that is, if it doesn't kill you. It magically tastes like your favorite food or taste. Mine is frozen lemonade. Yours?"

"Chocolate chip cookies."

"Nice."

From the adjacent room, Annabeth called, "Hurry it up already, I gotta get to archery. Can he walk?"

Yeah, no problem. Of course I could walk. I slipped my legs off the raised platform and slid into the ground, cringing at the jarring impact. I regained my balance then stepped forward. I promptly twisted my ankle and fell on my face.

"Nope! Not ready," Will exclaimed, helping me up.

Annabeth was now in the doorway. "Or maybe that's how he always walks." She smirked.

For some reason, I wasn't offended. There was something… missing. Some malicious edge. Almost like she was laughing _with_ me instead of _at_ me. In fact, I actually started to smirk as I sat up. I don't know, it just felt… different from when the high schoolers made fun of me. Like a friendly kind of teasing, if that was a thing. "Yeah, real funny." I retorted sarcastically although, if I was being honest, it was kind of funny.

Then Will spoke again. "Annabeth, before you go, did you observe anything important?"

"Oh yeah, he got claimed by Poseidon."

"Poseidon?" Will repeated incredulously.

"I'm sure of it. He stuck his arm in a puddle of water and heard someone say something to him. What did he say, Water Boy?"

So I'm Water Boy. Great. I assume that had to do with the fact that Poseidon had something to do with water. (What? Did you think I actually pay attention in history class?)

"Well, uh…"

"Spit it out, Water Boy."

"Well, I saw a Minotaur, but I knew that was impossible. Then I heard a voice say, 'Not so, my son.' It was definitely masculine. Which is weird, because I don't have a dad."

"Everyone has a dad, Water Boy, even if he lives on Mount Olympus."

"You know, I have a name."

"I know that, Water Boy, but I'm just going to call you Water Boy."

The name irritated me, but again I felt myself almost smiling about it.

Will glared at Annabeth, inserting himself back into the conversation. "What _is_ your name?" he asked, showing genuine interest.

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

Annabeth frowned. "I prefer Water Boy."

I moaned.

"All right, Annabeth, run off to your archery and stop torturing poor Percy."

Annabeth left, and I was almost sort of… wistful, perhaps? I don't know. Almost like when Mom drove away.

Again with Mom! Why?

Anyway, Will finally got me to walk. We arrived in a cozy room with armchairs, a couch, a burning fireplace-but wasn't it summer? It also had a… a jaguar head high on the wall. A wheelchaired man who looked to be about forty sat next to the couch.

"Who are you?" I asked him, sitting in an armchair.

"My name is Chiron. I'm the camp's activities director." Chiron didn't waste any more time on small talk. "There are some things I am about to tell you that you won't believe. Let this be your proof." He gripped the sides of his wheelchair and pulled himself up onto his legs, which were becoming covered with brown hair. His shoe transformed to a hoof. His wheelchair unfolded behind him, turning into horse legs as well.

When it all ended, I was staring at an eight-foot-tall centaur. Now, believe me, I was skeptical. I blinked a few times. I stared in disbelief. But you know what? Mom said this would be different, and it was. I _needed_ different. So even if I didn't fully believe it yet, I accepted it.

"To put it simply, the gods are real," Chiron stated.

"Like, the Greek gods," Will interjected. "The ones you learned about but weren't paying attention to."

"Don't get any ideas, though, because they don't pay attention to you, either. Especially if you're their kid, which you are. **(A/N: Yeah, the gods are real and they have kids and those kids have issues! Issues!)**

Here's the rundown: you're a demigod, also known as a half-blood. You're half-mortal half-god, so one of your parents is a god. Since I've been in contact with your mother, your father must be your godly parent. Unfortunately, you're still mortal and able to be killed. However, you may have some skills associated with your godly parent. Those will either come in time or are already present. For example, a child of Hades can shadow-travel and raise the undead, which are skills learned over time, while children of Athena are just born exceptionally smart.

"Wait, so you're saying that I'm the son of a-that my _dad_ is _Poseidon_?'!"

"Well, it could be any male go. Or, you know… well, that's the Norse gods, so I wouldn't worry."

I raised an eyebrow, but Will spoke before I could. "We think he's already been claimed. He heard a voice in the water. It called him its… its son." Will said the last part quietly.

"Naiads."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Naiads. Water spirits. They could've been messing with you," Will said, coming to the same conclusion as Chiron.

"Besides the fact, no one should be alone on their first week of camp."

"Wait, alone?" I asked. "You know, you guys are really bad at explaining things!"

"I'm sorry," Chiron apologized. "We're usually better. It's just… Poseidon… even the possibility of it is just so surprising."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Well, to put it shortly, all children of Poseidon are… prohibited from being born. You would be the only one. So we'll hope that you're NOT a son of Poseidon because if you are… let's just say it might get messy."

Oh, great. Not only am I an outcast, but my own birth was a crime. Welcome to my life.

"Anyway," Chiron continued, "we're putting you in the Hermes cabin for now; they take all the unclaimed ones. Luke is the camp counselor for 'll get to know him soon."

Oh boy would I get to know him soon. And not in a good way.

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 **A/N: So there we are so far! A few hints at Percabeth there, if you payed attention. ;) I like to develop relationships and not have them be rushed, so we'll only be seeing very mild Percabeth for a bit, but I promise I'm building up to it! Meanwhile, we get to watch Percy go through the Hades of finding out you're a demigod all over again. :)**

 **I usually leave the title of the next chapter in the end comments so here it is: "The Hermes Cabin"**

 **Another little teaser: Nico will appear in this story despite The Titan's Curse not happening yet. An OC son of Ares will also appear, just because I had a cool idea for a demigod and wanted to use it.**

 **This story is currently on low priority since it's not in the fandom I'm known for, but any support (reviews, PM's, follows, faves, etc.) will boost the update speed. Until chapter 2!**

 ** _Update like 6 hours later: I forgot to mention, there are two references to Riordan books or adaptations of them in here. See if you can get them! :)_**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Hermes Cabin

**Hello again! Here's chapter 2 for all of you! Chapter 1 is quite similar to canon, but here the story starts to take a different turn. I like to answer reviews here, but you can just skip them if you want. :) I responded to most of these in PMs, so I'll just say something short.**

 **timbo8 - Thanks. I've had that song stuck in my head for gods know how long!**

 **Soph Marie - Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.**

 **etheral skies - Yeah, aging is a nice AU tool that I like to use. And things are going to start getting a little more interesting.**

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"Welcome, newbie!" Luke's words made me feel anything but welcome.

There was some sort of aura about him that made me uneasy. His words seemed fake. His expression looked like a mask. There was something so… wrong about him. Fake. Hidden. Fine, I might be getting ahead of myself. These things I observed later on, but I clearly remember a sense of uneasiness as he approached me for the first time.

"Heard from my girlfriend Annabeth that you were undetermined…" he continued. Upon hearing that, my stomach dropped. _Girlfriend_. Annabeth had a boyfriend. But why did I care?

"...Come on in! I know you must be confused, but trust me, you are going to _love_ it here when you get used to it." I detected sarcasm in that sentence. That was it. It was the sarcasm that I always heard from the bullies' mocking voices. But this wasn't mocking. It was… sad? Angry? But if so, Luke didn't seem to be angry at me. And, honestly, it just seemed like his personality. So at the time I was pretty cool about it and brushed off the notion I was getting.

I walked in with him, and he started pointing people out. "There's the twins… well, sorta-Connor and Travis Stoll. That's Chris. Alice. Julia. You'll get to know the whole crew soon."

Percy didn't know how he would get to know everyone anytime soon. The cabin was bustling with about thirty campers. And that didn't include the ones that weren't present at the moment. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. He'd be living with all these people for the summer?! How would he ever get time alone?

"The bunks on the right wall are the undetermined ones. You're the oldest of the group by about three years, so good luck with that. Pick an empty bunk and put your stuff on the end of it. Schedule's up on the wall by the door. If you don't know where to go, just follow everyone else. If you have any questions, feel free to ask Connor and Travis." Travis, sitting nearby, gave Luke an annoyed look. I didn't feel so free to ask anymore. "And that concludes your tour. Go do something useful. Or not. I don't really care."

I got the feeling that Luke had a schedule jam-packed with "Me Time." But hey, there's nothing wrong with that. Although friends would definitely be nice, I was an introvert at heart and I always liked my me time. Although it didn't seem like I'd be getting much of that here.

I set my bag down (it had somehow appeared in the place where I met Will and Annabeth) and decided to try to talk to someone. After all, with so many people here, there had to be at least one friend for me in this cabin, right?

I walked over to where I had seen Travis. He was about my age, maybe a year older, but he wouldn't have stood out in my sophomore classes. He looked rough, but then again, so had Grover at first.

Grover…

I fingered my necklace. It was a thin brown rope with shells strung on it. Grover had given it to me for my thirteenth birthday. _A stupid present,_ Grover had later admitted to me. But hey, it stood for something, and that's what made it special. It reminded me that good friendships were still possible.

I tucked it back into my shirt and walked over to Travis. "Hey, Travis. I'm the new guy."

"What ya' gonna bombard me with questions?"

"Nah."

"Great, I hate those kids who cling onto you like leeches and annoy the Hades outta you."

I raised an eyebrow. "The what?"

"Hades. The Underworld. You'll catch on."

I shrugged, sitting next to him. "So what're we doing today?"

His mouth quirked upward. "I dunno about you, but I'm gonna be doin' a lot a' ditchin'."

I faked a sly smile. "Hit me up."

Now, I've never been that kid to ditch class or anything, although that's what my reputation usually suggested. So no, I really didn't feel like breaking the rules on the first day, but if it scored me someone to hang out with, I didn't really care.

Travis smirked. "I'm startin' to like you already."

That felt good to hear. It was something I hadn't heard in a long while. I felt the cool shells on my chest and thought, _today's the day. Mom was actually right; today's the day._

Travis stood. "Welp, Connor and I'll be off to the lake in a few minutes if you wanna come. Gonna scare some kayakers." He gave me a huge grin. Then he walked to a bunk, presumably his, and pulled some clothes out of his bag. Then he took of his shirt, which I wasn't really ready for. I turned away quickly. _Shoot, I'll have to change in here… in front of everyone else._ The thought turned my face a bit red. It got redder as I heard his pants drop behind me. My face must've been redder than I thought because Travis saw it and teased, "What, ya' never been to P.E. before?"

 _Well, no, actually._ "Ah, shut up," I played it off.

"Oh, you're gonna have some _fun_ with us, kid. Prepare to have your innocent little mind twisted up!"

That made me a bit uncomfortable. But pickers couldn't be choosers, right? Travis was all right. At least he wasn't awful to me.

Once Travis, mercifully, was fully clothed, we met up with Connor and left the cabin a few minutes before most people did. Luke gave us the side-eye but didn't say anything.

I followed them to the lake, where about fifteen empty kayaks lined the beach. Connor and Travis stripped off their shirts to swim (I was more ready for it this time) and balled them up near a tree stump. I elected to keep mine on even though it would mean walking around in a soggy shirt afterward. I took off my socks and shoes, throwing them into the twins' pile of clothes.

Then Connor pushed me in and I got wet. I just went with it, taking a few strokes out until it was deep enough to dive. Hearing no one behind me, I surfaced. My hair stuck to my face, partially covering one eye, but I didn't really care. Being in the water just gave me this sort of… confidence. I found Connor and Travis still on the beach, giving impressed frowns.

"All right," said Connor-I think it was Connor, at least- "race you to the newbie!"

Connor jumped in, leaving Travis unprepared behind him. Because of this, Connor got an huge lead on his brother, managing a twenty-foot lead or more the whole time. Connor high-fived me once he reached me. "Hey, I gotta stop callin' ya' newbie. What's your name?"

"Percy," I replied.

"Percy? Like Perseus?"

"Um, yeah…"

"Dang, that is so freaking lit!"

I wasn't sure why he said that, but my confidence boosted, and I felt a smile break out on my face. "Thanks."

"Yeah."

Travis had now caught up to them. "You cheater," he said with fake anger toward his brother. He punched him on the shoulder, although the effect was lessened since it was underwater.

"All right, I deserved that."

"There's are first victims!" Travis interrupted. Two beautiful girls with flowing blond hair approached a kayak. And when I say beautiful I mean the prissy kind that I find completely unattractive

"Ooh, Aphrodites. This'll be fun," Connor remarked with a grin. I vaguely remembered Aphrodite being a beauty goddess or something. And wasn't Hades the Underworld god? It seemed to be coming back to me. Oh, and Annabeth said I was a son of Poseidon. Water god. Oh. See, I've always thought it was kind of weird that I could hold my breath for so long, but I never exactly chalked it up to being the son of a Greek water god. Well, I guess that meant I was actually believing all this stuff now. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that I was tied to water in some way. Maybe that's why I liked blue food? And why I always dried off faster than everyone else.

And why my mom would take me here.

Because I was actually a demigod.

Well, might as well make the most of it.

I suddenly shot through the water Moana-style (all right, bad comparison). I never knew I could do this before, but I guess it was just because I had never tried.

I was enjoying myself so much that I almost forgot about the Stoll brothers. I resurfaced next to them. "Well, that was fun."

A sad look crossed Connor's face for a moment. "I guess we're gonna get split up soon, then."

"Wait, why?"

"Well, we're actual sons of Hermes. You on the other hand, well they don't know about you yet, but it seems pretty obvious that you're a son of Poseidon-"

"Wait, Poseidon?" Travis interrupted. "But that's impossible!"

"Everyone keeps saying that," I complained. "Why is it impossible?"

"Because Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades all took an oath to never have kids again after World War Two."

"Why?"

"Oh, come on," Travis continued, "Hitler: great leader, _Blitzkreig_ , or 'lightning war.' That's a son o' Zeus if I ever saw one. Anyway, the Big Three, as we call them, swore never to have any more children to prevent more wars."

"Then again, we have a son of Hades in our camp right now," Connor pointed out.

"He doesn't count."

"Just saying, it's not impossible."

I was the only one paying attention and pulled the three of us down just before a large red kayak ran over our heads. I thought to myself, _let them breathe._ I don't know what I expected to happen, but it actually did work, creating an air bubble around the three of us. "We can talk down here," I told them.

"Oh yeah, nice save," Connor remarked.

"Thanks."

"Anyway," Travis continued, "you're gonna get moved to the Poseidon cabin if it really is possible that you're his son. Then again, I don't know anyone else who could do this."

Connor frowned. "You'll be all alone. I hope you don't end up like Nico, the child of Hades. He's isolated himself; he hardly ever leaves his cabin. And gods, have you ever seen inside the Cabin 13 he built? There's something messed up about that kid."

I took two mental notes: "gods," not "God," and I made sure to remember the Nico kid. He intrigued me for some reason, maybe because I was always called messed up by the kids at school. Maybe he just needed someone to see through that. Or maybe there really was something messed up about him.

Travis interrupted my thoughts: "All right, guys, let's do what we came here to do."

When I looked up, I saw three or four kayaks above me, and more seemed to be pulling out from the beach. Travis swam over to the red one and gave it a hard shove on the bottom. I could hear the Aphrodite girls scream at the bump that had come from nowhere. Connor bumped a green kayak, and one of the riders, a boy, let out a girlish shriek then caught himself. The boy across from him teased him, "C'mon, don't be afraid of the naiads."

"That was NOT a naiad."

"Whatever."

This actually did seem kinda fun. I numbed an orange boat, and the riders let out a shriek. I didn't get as much satisfaction out of it as the brothers, but I did laugh. Underwater. I did not know I could do that until now.

Travis hit another kayak, but it tipped, ejecting its riders into the water. Connor gave him a disapproving look, fighting against a smile. Travis just shrugged back sheepishly.

Then I grinned mischievously as I got an idea. Connor saw it and watched me curiously. I came up under a kayak and thrust my hand up, thinking in my mind what I wanted the water to do. A stream up water shot up from beneath the kayakers, shooting them ten feet into the air until they plopped back down in the water. I heard from above me, "What the freaking Hades was THAT?!" I laughed, swimming back over to Travis and Connor. The former pointed up toward where the surface met the beach, and I followed them up and out of the water. As soon as the brothers got air in their lungs, they burst into laughter, making my laugh all over again. We retrieved our clothes and put them back on. As the laughs subsided, Travis commented, "I think that's a good day's work."

I smiled, thinking of the necklace against my chest. This was going to work out all right for me.

I dried myself using my newfound demigod powers, but I left my hair a bit wet. I liked it like that.

I glanced back at the canoe lake and locked eyes with a certain girl he wished hadn't seen him. She was soaked and was sitting in the yellow kayak-the one he'd shot into the air. And that girl was Annabeth. I gave her a sheepish _I'm sorry_ smile, then turned away and hurried to catch up with Connor and Travis.

"So, where off to now?" I asked.

"It's almost noon. Just a few minutes till lunch," Travis replied.

"Well… where are we _supposed_ to be?" I asked.

Connor got a mischievous smile. "Archery. Let's see how you do at that."

I've never tried archery before, but I had this feeling I would be great at it. But, hey. Everyone else had to do it whether they wanted to or not, and I figured I should probably start following the rules.

When we got to the archery place, with straw-stuffed dummies and normal targets, I recognized some of the Hermes campers. Another group of tough-looking kids stood together, and I watched as one of them, a blond-haired, brown-eyed boy a few years younger than me jumped a seemingly impossible height into the air and did a backflip.

"Ares jerks," Travis said, pointing them out. "Jacob's not too bad, though. Just loves to show off his 'gymnarate.'"

I raised an eyebrow. "His what?"

Connor sighed. "Gymnastics. Except he fights with it. Because a child of Ares can't just do something _normal_ , it _has_ to be connected to fighting or war somehow."

Ares. War god. Got it.

"Eh, you'll see in Capture the Flag," Connor settled on, giving up his attempt to explain.

Then my eyes fell on Luke. "Hey, the newbie finally decided to show up."

Connor rolled his eyes. "The kid has a name."

"Percy," I confirmed.

Luke stared at him, his face deadpan. "Does it look like I care?"

"No, I guess not."

The three of us walked past Luke. Connor went to get bows and arrows, so I turned to Travis. "What is that guy's problem?"

Travis' face became serious, a look I hadn't seen since I met him. "He has a sad story."

"Tell me," I asked, my curiosity growing.

"He, Annabeth, and Thalia lived on the streets together for a while. Then they made a run for the camp, but Thalia didn't make it. Luke took it pretty hard. Apparently he was a really cool guy, but he's never been the same since."

"And that's why he and Annabeth are together," I thought out loud.

"And why do you care?" Travis asked with a grin.

"Shut up."

"Oh, she's a tough one to get. Good luck with her, 'cause you'll need it."

Smirking, I decided to return the embarrassing remark. "And why would you know this?"

Travis grunted. "Now you're just desperate."

Connor returned with three bows and fifteen arrows. Travis called to him as he neared us, "We've got an Annabeth crusher!"

I rolled my eyes, but to be honest I felt comfortable enough around them that I didn't care.

As Connor handed us out bows, he smiled. "You know, you might have a chance at her with your looks."

That legit confused me. "My what?"

"I assume no one ever mentioned it in high school, but I know tons of people who'd consider you hot."

"You assumed right; I only got ridiculed about that."

"Well, that's 'cause they're jealous."

"Huh?"

"Look, Percy, we've all gone through this before at this camp. Well, most of us, anyway. When you have a special talent or something like your looks, you either rise to the top or get kicked to the bottom. And most of us here got kicked to the bottom, just like you. There's something about demigods that just makes it hard for us to fit in with mortal society. But here with us, we get you."

(Cue really awesome musical song about the hardships of high school. No? Whatever.)

I smiled. "Thanks."

"But really, I'd try if I were you. Lukabeth is just a bomb waiting to explode."

I laughed. "You shipped them?"

"Gosh, do you know how hard it is to combine their names? Nothing sounds right. I'm telling you, if the names don't combine well, then it's not meant to be."

"Ha. So what's the ship name for Annabeth and I?"

"Percabeth!" Travis interjected. "All right not the best, but it flows, right?"

I smiled. "I like the sound of that."

Now let me make something clear. I was not _actually_ planning on hooking up with a girl I'd only met for five minutes, I was just messing around with my friends.

But she was kinda cute.

And the way her hair swished around.

And the sarcastic but genuine care she showed toward me.

Shut up!

We went up to the shooting mats. When it one opened up, I stepped up and looked out ahead of me. About thirty yards away was a line of four straw dummies. I loaded, aimed for the one directly in front of me, pulled back the string, and fired.

The arrow whizzed through the air, thunking into the stomach of the dummy. The one on the other end of the field. I was off by at least thirty feet.

"Well, most likely you just hit your ally straight in the stomach," Travis commented.

"At least you hit something," Connor commented, trying for an optimistic approach.

I looked over to the station next to me and watched him pull back his bow then shoot. I followed the arrow with my eyes as it soared toward the dummy, sticking it right in the forehead and knocking it off the stand. The girl behind him rolled her eyes in annoyance, pointing at the dummy and demanding, "You're fixing that." My jaw dropped as I saw my lack of ability compared to him.

"Don't worry about it," Connor consoled me, "Son of Apollo, god of archery."

I scrunched my eyebrows at him. "I thought he was the god of the sun."

"Oh, he is. God of the sun, archery, poetry including songs, disease, the Oracle, and all there is holy."

Travis rolled his eyes at the last item of the list. "He's just jealous of Apollo kids because they can sing better than him."

"Mm-hmm," Connor replied, eyebrows raised.

"Anyway," Travis interrupted, "Clarisse just got in line behind us, so I suggest we start moving." He picked an arrow, drew back the string, and missed the target wide to the right. But not nearly a wide as I'd missed it.

As he returned and Connor stepped up, I asked Travis, "So what's up with the Clarisse girl?"

"Ares," he stated as if that explained everything. Seeing the unsatisfied look on my face, he continued, "She's the worst a' them. She'll pummel you if you do something as simple as make her wait in line. And sometimes she'll pummel you purely for the fun of it. You'll get to know her eventually, unfortunately for you."

So she was the don't-mess-with-me type taken to the extreme. Gotcha. I caught a glimpse at the person in the back, a girl-although that word has the wrong connotation-with stringy light brown hair of a decent length, about to her shoulders. Her eyes were fierce. Combined with her stature-she had a basketball player's height and a hardcore softball pitcher's build (if you've never seen a softball pitcher before, they are built like a ram). Shoot that all with steroids and you've got Clarisse La Rue. She terrified me, in all honesty.

I heard Connor's arrow hit something and turned only to find that it was lodged in the dirt ten feet in front of the target. I decided to return the favor of an optimistic comment: "'Least you stuck it somewhere."

"Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good day's work. Now we should be hearing the lunch horn soon."

We had just enough idle time to watch Clarisse shoot her arrow. It landed smack into the dummy's crotch, making me cringe. I swear she aimed exactly for that spot.

Mercifully, a horn bellowed out its sound, apparently signaling lunch. (What happened to duty aides with whistles?) The three of us walked… well, somewhere. When we got there, an open-air mess hall lined with torches burning green and with a fire in a large brazier in the center, Connor announced in a grand voice, "Welcome to the Dining Pavilion!" He leaned close and cupped his hand around his mouth, whispering, "Or as everyone calls it when Chiron's not around, the mess hall."

We entered to see a vast area that must have been the cafeteria the gods ate in while they were in kindergarten. The tables were set up cafeteria-style with all the tables lined up in rows, but the tables were wooden with fancy tablecloths. Each table was designated to a cabin. My eyes wandered to the four empty tables at the far left, which read **ZEUS** , **HADES** , **HERA** , and of course **POSEIDON**. I cringed at the thought that I might end up all alone at the Poseidon table as early as tomorrow, even. At least the Zeus and Hera tables could sit with their backs facing the Demeter and Ares tables, respectively. But Poseidon and Hades were at the left extreme of the room and the empty Zeus and Hera tables were the only ones they neighbored besides each other.

But for now I got to sit at the Hermes table with the Stoll brothers. So I should focus on that. We sat down together. To my disdain, Luke was only two to the right of me, with Travis sitting between us. Luckily for me, Travis and Luke struck up a conversation, drawing Luke's attention away from me.

Meanwhile, Connor explained to me the complexities of the magical utensils and goblet, and I eventually managed to make myself some "blue juice," as my mom called it. (It was actually just orange juice dyed blue.)

The "wood nymphs," as Connor explained, came around serving food. I patiently waited as the nymphs came around with bread, grapes, barbecued beef, cheese, and the like. As they came around I took two slices of bread, some cheese, and a beef patty that I fashioned a rough cheeseburger out to. Taking a bite, I shrugged. "It's actually not as bad as it sounds considering it's meat with brie and rye," I mentioned to Connor.

He grinned. "Not a bad idea." He quickly took the food on his plate and made his own. He took a bite. "You're right; not bad."

My eyes wandered around the place, eventually settling on Annabeth. Of course. I didn't know why, but she always drew my attention. I mean, maybe it was just those stormy gray eyes that enraptured me and left me staring… but, uh, that wasn't weird or anything, right?

She was talking to Luke; she sat just across the aisle from him. They were speaking in low voices that I couldn't hear. Then Like leaned forward and kissed her.

Ugh! Really? I mean… I'm just not big on PDA, is all. That's all it was. Totally.

She looked at Luke the same way she looked at me; with a joking face, but with a genuine sense of protectiveness behind her eyes.

I was able to read Annabeth lips at one point after that: _Are you okay?_

Luke nodded back at her. I heard him this time: "'Long as I'm here with you."

There seemed to be a mutual understanding that, even though he wanted to, Luke wouldn't follow through with that. They kissed again anyway, and I had to look away.

...What? I told you I don't like PDA. That's it! Don't start getting any thoughts!

"You should probably stop staring if you don't want her to catch you," Connor whispered.

I jerked my head away quickly, unfortunately proving Connor's suspicions.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't have a crush on her, Connor."

Connor just smiled at me with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Please… don't say anything about it to her," I said in a low voice, barely audible.

Connor's smile dropped into serious line. "I promise. I want you two to figure things out on your own." But the smile grew back as he continued: "Plus, the less we push you, the longer we get to watch the drama unfold."

A horn blew, and Connor got up, leaving me to myself. I sat there for a minute just to muse over my own feelings. I lay my head down on the table, my face facing Annabeth in my right. It was really an ideal position, since I could stare at her and she'd just think I was dozing off.

So I stared without shame. I looked into her gray eyes. It was ironic; he never knew something so colorless could be so beautiful. But if anything, the colorlessness of her eyes only made them more pronounced against her face, flushed with color from vivacity and quite possibly that kiss she and Luke just shared… but now wasn't the time to ruin my moment. I watched her blond curls, which spiraled down to the middle of her back. She wore the same bright orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans that Percy had first seen her in. But all the color stood in stark difference against her eyes. They reminded me of a stormy sea. Unsure, but powerful. The sea was underestimated, but it had the power to sink entire ships. Then again, the sea could be friendly, too. I know I was always at ease when I went into the water.

Then Annabeth left.

I did not have a crush on her.

Did not

Didn't

Have a crush…

 _Gods, Percy, you can believe in Greek gods, but you can't believe that you have a crush on her?_

Maybe I just didn't _want_ to believe.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! Like it? Sorry for the wait; I have so many projects I'm juggling. This was supposed to come out ahead of schedule, but I hit the dreaded writer's block about halfway through. Honestly, I didn't want to end it just yet, but I hit yet another writer's block and decided to end the chapter here.**

 **Chapter 3 is called "Alone Again." It should be out in early March, but hopefully I'm back with chapter 3 before then! It's a pretty emotional one for Percy.**

 **One more question: Would you like me to write more PJO stories/one-shots? Not sure I can fit it in, but I'd like to know. Respond in a review or PM.**

 **Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Ups and Downs

**No one responded, so looks like I won't be writing any other PJO stories, at least until Quest for the Broken Star is finished (its planned to finish up in June). Sorry, that's just how I roll. If you don't ask for it, I won't take away from other stories to do it.**

 **Anyway, on a better note, I have been getting decent support on this story, so it's a priority right now. I'll probably update this every 2 to 3 weeks (slow for most people, but slightly expedited for me).**

 **Also, I went back on my word for the name of this chapter. I just think the new title suits it better, but the chapter has the same as the original ideas.**

 **Anyway, reviews:**

 **Jodanfritz10 - No, it isn't ideal. Unfortunately, this is my first PJO endeavor on this site so I'm spending more time on my other stories with a better following. This story is kind of like a side-hustle, but I really enjoy writing it and I have big aspirations. Hopefully the situation gets better, and I can't say enough: your support matters!**

* * *

We were all leaving the dining pavilion. I tried to keep track of Annabeth, Connor, and Travis, but I soon lost them in the huge mass of people funneling out. I suddenly realized I didn't know where I was, and I stopped. There was hardly anyone near me, and I didn't recognize anyone. Chiron pranced out from the Pavilion, but I wanted to try to figure it out without asking him. There was a stream, but I didn't recognize it.

I whirled around when I heard something in the bushes behind me. A large—no, huge—doglike animal sprang at me from the bushes. But I could instantly tell that this was no dog. Its eyes were red and fierce with intent to harm.

I backed away, honestly pretty scared. I thought to turn and run, but before I could, the hound swung its paw, tearing through my face with its claws. I definitely did not scream. I fell down on my back and watched the beast stand over me, in terror.

As the beast raised its paw for another strike, I heard Chiron shout my name. He threw me a pen—gee, thanks. How was a pen supposed to help?—but as I watched in fascination, it grew into a bronze three-foot-long sword, spinning and over end. By all means, it was incredibly stupid to try to catch a large spinning blade spinning straight toward me, but I somehow caught the hilt in my right hand. I swiped at the hound in desperation, slicing it slightly. It reared back, and I managed to get to my feet. I slashed again, but it was met by hard claws. It was awkward, but it felt somewhat more natural than I'd expect. I slashed again, connecting this time. I could see red through the fur. The hound retorted, slashing across my chest. I gritted my teeth to keep from crying out. Tears streamed from my eyes, which was good because it kept the blood from running into my eyes. However, it did run into my mouth (gross).

The hound struck again, and I deflected it with my sword, but the sheer force of the blow caused me to stagger backward-toward the stream. I tried striking again, but the injuries and exhaustion had taken their toll on my body, and I couldn't connect. I desperately slashed with the sword, but to no avail. I continued to stagger backward, bending to the creatures onslaught. I managed to block some of its attack's, but my left hip and dominant arm were now bleeding on top of the face and chest wounds

Then the creature pounced, leaving a long gash across my face starting at my left temple, just missing my eye, and ending at my right cheek. It was the final blow, and I crashed into the stream, turning the water to a sickening red.

Underwater, I managed to notice three things: Connor, standing next to his brother, called my name in shock. Annabeth was tearing up and covered her mouth with her hand. She still looked beautiful, even as I was dying. It couldn't hurt to admit it to myself if I'd be dead soon anyway, right? And I noticed one more thing: Luke was nowhere to be found.

Soon, the water faded back to blue. I felt strength return. Seeing the hound standing over me in triumph, I launched myself at it, driving my sword straight into what I could only assume was its heart. It dissolved into golden dust.

Everyone in view stared at me. It wasn't me killing the beast or my seemingly-fatal wounds significantly healing in mere seconds that they were marveling at, like I thought—it was the green hologram above my head in the shape of—you guessed it—a trident.

"See, Percy, monsters shouldn't be able to enter the camp. You saw Thalia's Pine Tree—that's the border of the camp, and where the barrier begins. Only demigods can enter. Unless…" Chiron trailed off.

"Continue," I prompted.

"That is, unless the monster was voluntarily invited into the camp. And the hellhound—that's the name of the monster you fought—was clearly intent on attacking you in particular. Percy, this is serious. Someone in this camp is trying to murder you. Please be careful."

Chiron looked at the pen I had given back to him, which was now in his palm. "Keep this," he resolved. "It's name is Anaklusmos— _Riptide_. Uncap it to turn it into a sword. Place the cap on the tip to return it to pen form. It only works on monsters and other demigods—not mortals. And if you lose it, it will always return to you one way or another."

"Thank you," I said, taking the pen.

Chiron smiled. "I have a feeling that good 'ol Anaklusmos harbors a few tricks that even I haven't found."

It was clear that _Riptide_ has once belonged to Chiron. I felt a little bad about taking it from him, but I clearly needed it if I wanted to survive a week in this camp. I pocketed it. It felt weird holding a weapon of immense power in my pocket, but I'd get used to it.

"Now I'll show you to your new cabin."

Oh yeah, right. Isolation. My spirits dropped.

"On the upside, you can customize it exactly to your liking."

True. That would be cool.

As we arrived, Chiron opened the door and announced, "Welcome to Cabin Three!"

One word can sum up the whole room: blue. Blue walls, blue ceiling, blue bed, blue curtains. It was blue heaven. The floor was a sandy brown. And there were touches of green scattered about like seaweed—a green windowsill here, a green lamp there. The bed frame and dresser were a mixture of colors, pink and yellow and purple, like coral. I legit felt like I was underwater. And it was pretty awesome.

"Anything you feel the need to change?" Chiron asked.

"No, it's awesome."

"Great. I'll leave you to yourself, then. Capture-the-Flag in two hours."

As cool as the room was, I wanted to go find Connor and Travis. I left, heading for the Hermes cabin. But along the way, I saw someone. No! It couldn't be! He had goat legs, but I'd recognize that face anywhere. Grover. It was actually Grover!

I came up to him excitedly. "Grover! Hey! It's me, Percy!"

Grover cocked his head. 'You look familiar… but can't say the name rings a bell."  
I was taken aback in confusion. "What?"

"Sorry, I don't remember who you are, assuming we've met before."

"We… we went to sixth grade together! We were friends! You were my only friend, actually."

Grover put a hand on my shoulder. "Look, bud, I'm sorry that I don't remember you, but I've gone to over ten sixth grades and befriended over ten different demigods. I don't remember them after I move on to the next school."

My mind went numb. "Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Don't worry… don't, uhhhh…." I stumbled away from him, barely making it back to the Poseidon cabin before collapsing to my knees.

All along, my only friend… wasn't ever my friend at all, it was just because it was his job to watch over demigods and that whole friendship was all fake and he didn't even remember me and-

Suddenly, in a fit of rage, I tore the seashell necklace he had given me from my neck. I watched the shells fall and scatter. But I didn't regret my decision. In fact, I stood up and crushed the remains under my feet. In retrospect, the shell pieces were a nice accent to the sandy floor.

ΩΩΩΩΩ

I finally sank back down onto my bed, the rage turning to anguish. I had no friends, and I had never had any.

I must have actually fallen asleep because when I looked up, an hour and a half had passed. I remembered Chiron's words, _Capture-the-Flag in two hours_ , and hurried to freshen myself up. I changed into a fresh orange Camp Half-Blood shirt that had ended up in the dresser, and a pair of jeans. After glancing at a map on the wall, I grabbed _Riptide_ and left for the forest where the competition would take place.

In all honesty, I had no idea what was going on. About five til, I arrived at the edge of the field, where two demigods were stationed with blue and red mesh jerseys.

"Team?" The demigod on my right said.

"I don't know."

"Newbie," he said, and motioned to the girl on my left. She toss a blue jersey.

"Wear it," said the demigod who gave it to me, "Or both sides will try to kill you."

I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not. I mean, after the hellhound, anything was possible, I guess. I walked over to a group of blue-jerseyed demigods. They were grouped on the left side of a river that ran through the forest. When I got there, I recognized Annabeth in blue. I shied away from her, still unsure how she felt about me after blasting her out of the water on the lake. As the time of the start drew nearer and more demigods in blue jerseys arrived, Annabeth mounted a tree stump and started to call out her plan.

As she finished, everyone nodded, entirely understanding everything she'd said. However, I hadn't been assigned anything. "Um, what do I do?"

Annabeth looked down at me in annoyance. "Just… stay out of the way."

"Uh… all right."

Everyone lined up. Chiron sounded his horn from the side, and the majority of our team charged across the river. Some held back, and I decided to join them as it seemed to be the most out-of-the-way thing possible. I drew Riptide and just stood there awkwardly. However, I soon saw myself drifting toward Annabeth, who was apart from the group and running along the left of the arena. She was slowed by the numerous opponents she encountered, but she defeated each with ease and agility. I watched in awe as her stormy eyes calculated and struck. I hadn't known this kind of skill was possible.

I followed behind her until she stopped dead in her tracks. Covered in gold-plated armor with a red jersey over it was Clarisse. The visor was tilted up so I could see her face, which was contorted with battle rage. She carried a gigantic broadsword that she carried loosely in one hand. "Wanna fight?" she sneered. She stepped in toward Annabeth an swung her broadsword toward her. Annabeth stopped the blade with her own, but Clarisse withdrew before Annabeth could retaliate. Annabeth tried to strike back, but Clarisse countered and caught Annabeth across the forehead. She groaned in pain. She weakly tied blocking Clarisse's next strike. While she managed to defend the attack, the flat of her blade slapped against her chest. She was in trouble.

She had said not to get in the way, but I simply couldn't watch this anymore. Call it ADHD, but my impulses made me step in and take on Clarisse.

The edges of our blades collided. _Riptide_ cleaved into her broadsword, leaving a sizeable notch.

Rage burned in her eyes. I backed away fearfully, but she came down with her sword, the untarnished edge ripping through my non-dominant arm. I tried to crawl away, but Clarisse raised her broadsword again. Just as it came down on me, it was caught with another blade. I looked up to see the blond curls and gray eyes of Annabeth. She flicked Clarisse's blade away before Clarisse could react, sending her running after it

Annabeth helped me up. "Th-thanks," I stuttered. Yes, I was blushing, but Annabeth probably accounted it to exertion and fear.

"What's your name?"

"Percy."

"Well, _Percy_ , it's what friends do."

Friends. My smile must've been unreasonably wide, because Annabeth gave me a weird look.

"All right, let's get that flag!" she shouted!

"Yeah!"

We charged through red territory, taking and conquering each enemy together. As Annabeth had planned, the majority of the blue team was cleaving through the red team in a large group far to our right. They attracted most of the attention, leaving only a few stragglers for us to take care of.

"I guess," Annabeth breathed as we disarmed a six-foot tall Ares boy in armor, "I didn't realize I needed a partner." She smiled at me.

My heart skipped a beat. Partner? No, stupid-she means as an ally in battle. "Y-yeah, thanks."

"Do you always stutter like that?"  
"Uhh, n-no."

She laughed. "All right, _Seaweed Brain_ , let's do this.

I smirked at the new nickname.

We took on a few more opponents before reaching the flag. The two guards there came at us, one a black-haired girl and the other a dark-skinned boy. They both looked strong and skilled. As they approached us, Annabeth and I went back-to-back. She insisted on taking the boy, leaving me to take on the girl. I swear the girl was stronger, because Annabeth seemed to fight the boy with such ease. Of course, that was most likely because she was better than me.

Annabeth seemed to be winning her battle, but I was losing mine. I saw Chiron watching closely, which was probably why the girl didn't try maiming me. However, an idea began to form in my head. If Annabeth and I switched, then maybe-  
"Now!" Annabeth shouted. Without anyone having to explain, we turned and stepped past each other, confusing our opponents. I struck near the hilt of the boy's sword, making it fly out of his hands. When I looked over my back, Annabeth had done the same. With our final opponents disarmed, we seized the flag together. A loud, booming noise rang out, and I saw it had been the dark-skinned boy blowing a horn. It was supposed to be a signal to his team that the flag had been taken, but it was also part of Annabeth's plan. As the blue team heard the sound, they formed a wall. They let us run right through but blocked everyone on the red team. They were successful, but there were still a few red demigods behind the line that we'd have to get through. We headed toward the least dense area, outmaneuvering the demigods who approached us. Finally, we were within ten yards of the boundary river. However, there was one last obstacle. Clarisse, in her full armor, stood in front of us. There was no eluding her; we'd have to fight our way past her.

"Take it," Annabeth commanded through her teeth.

She let go of the flag and thrusted at Clarisse, who blocked her easily. I wheeled around the two and leaped over the river.

"BLUE WINS!" Chiron bellowed over a megaphone. "CEASE FIGHTING! THAT INCLUDES YOU, CLARISSE!" Clarisse grudgingly lowered her weapon and stalked off.

Annabeth, meanwhile, ran over to me with an excited smile on her face. I held up my hand for a high-five, but she enveloped me in a friendly hug. I looked down at her in surprise. "We did it! We did it! We did it!" Annabeth gushed.

My heart swelled knowing I made her happy. I had to get off of this topic before I started blushing. "So you trusted me with the flag, eh?"

She glanced up at my smirk. "No, I just didn't trust you to fight Clarisse."

"Aw, I can handle Clarisse."

"Right, and _who_ got you out of your losing fight with her?"

"Right," I repeated, "And who got _you_ out of _your_ losing fight with her?"  
Annabeth opened her mouth but realized she didn't have a comeback. She punched my shoulder, but I just smiled. "Stupid Seaweed Brain."

I laughed, taking her hand and pulling her along with the crowd back to the dining pavilion for lunch.

"So how does this whole thing even work? I might have won it for us, but that doesn't mean I know how to play."

Annabeth sighed, relenting. "All right, you did. Anyway, it's basically normal capture-the-flag except with swords. There's no killing or maiming, but you saw how well that rule is maintained. It's every Friday at the same time. Usually we just form groups, but recently Chiron changed the rules so that we're in the same team the whole month. Supposed to build teamwork or something," she grumbled. Her voice perked up at her next point: "I was elected the leader. Unfortunately, our team is awful. That was our first win of the month. Luckily, we get a new team next Friday."

That reminded me. It was almost the end of August; my birthday was soon.

We reached the dining pavilion and entered. I followed Annabeth to her table. Seeing Luke wasn't there, I smirked and sat between where he and Annabeth usually sat. Annabeth gave me a suspicious look with a smirk, like _I know what you're doing._ "You know, you're not allowed to sit at a table that's not yours."

"Rules are made to be broken, right?"

The smirk was still on her face. "I suppose… I have no objection."

"Actually," came a voice from behind them, "rules are meant to be upheld. Why else would I make them?"

I whirled around to see a black-haired scraggly man in a Hawaiian shirt. "Who's that?" I asked Annabeth.

"Mr. D. Camp director."

"I thought that was Chiron?" I looked back to see Mr. D tapping his foot impatiently.

"Look, I'm sorry Percy, but you should go."

I sighed. "All right."

Mr. D pointed at the Poseidon table. "There's your table. You'll sit there every day, no exceptions."

"Yeah, yeah, I know where my solitary confinement is."

I plopped down at the isolated table and started to eat mundanely. I watched Annabeth. Luke had come and the two were talking and laughing. I just wished I could be over there with her. I frowned down at my food. I was becoming incredibly bored and frustrated, so I tried to find something else to occupy myself with. I looked around, my eyes finally coming to a rest on a small, black-haired, pale-skinned boy who looked to be having about as much fun as I was. He sat at the Hades table, which I knew had been empty during lunch.

"Hey!"

He didn't respond.

"You! At the Hades table!"

The boy seemed to sigh.

As I looked at the boy, something clicked. This must be Nico, who Connor and Travis had told me about. "Nico, is it?"

"Uh-huh."

"Haven't seen you here recently."

He shrugged. "Don't usually come."

My eyes narrowed. "So… you just don't eat?"

He shrugged again.

My ADHD brain being unable to focus on Nico any longer, my eyes drifted to the cards set out on the table in front of him. I slid down to the end of my table to get a better look. "What are those?"

Nico smiled. "Well, these are Mythomagic cards. They have gods, monsters, and other mythological figures in a competitive card game. Right now I'm looking at the Hydra. As you can see, Ares is weak against it because he's the only one stupid enough to chop off its heads…"

I glanced at Mr. D and, when he wasn't looking, I slipped over to Nico's table.

"...On the other hand, Hephaestus is strong against it because he can burn it with fire. However, if you attach a Water card to the Hydra, Hephaestus is ineffective, and the Hydra gains five attack damage. In that case, Poseidon is the best card to play against it to drain the water, followed up with Hephaestus. But if you don't have Hephaestus, you could also use Athena, who's good at outwitting monsters-"

As much as I wanted to hear the boy so excited, I honestly couldn't listen to Amy more of it without dozing off.

"How about we play?" I suggested.

"Really? I… I've never played with anyone since Bianca…"

I could tell there was weight behind the statement. "What happened to Bianca?"

"She joined the Hunters of Artemis a few years ago. I'd never felt so alone. I mean, she just _left_ me. All alone, with no one who cared about me. Our mom passed away when we were young, and my dad's the infamous Hades everyone so despises."

"Y'know, I think Hades is actually pretty cool." I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this, but I decided to continue. "Not as cool as Poseidon, of course, but still pretty cool."

"Really?"

"I mean, all I've got to base him off of are his kids, and the one Hades kid I've met was pretty cool."

"You're sentimental. Let's play." Nico gave me half the cards and placed down a Hydra."

Was Ares good with Hydra or bad? I honestly couldn't remember, so I put it down.

Nico dropped his face into his palm. "You really are hopeless, aren't you? Ares cuts off the heads, doubling the Hydra's attack damage. My turn." He placed down a Water card. "Hydra attacks with 30 times 2, or 60, damage plus 5 for the water. 65 damage wipes out the mighty Ares." He slid the card to the side. "Now place down another god or hero."

I smirked. "My favorite," I remarked, slapping down the Poseidon card.

Nico smiled. "Now you got the hang of it. Poseidon drains the water, decreasing Hydra's attack. Now I can't wipe out Poseidon because he has 65 HP. I'll attack anyway to reduce Poseidon's HP to 5."

As according to Nico's lecture, I followed up with Hephaestus.

Nico played Medusa.

"All right, now pick one card to attack one or more of my cards. Each card can only attack once."

I placed Hephaestus in front of the Hydra per Nico's advice. Unsure of what to do with Poseidon, I put him underneath Medusa.

"Amazing! Hephaestus attacks the Hydra with double damage because of the fire weakness, so that's forty times two-eighty, the Hydra is out. Then you have Poseidon on Medusa. Poseidon blinds Medusa with water, disabling her turn-to-stone ability for one turn."

"That's just me! Awesome at everything I do," I bragged.

"Uh-uh, not so fast!" Nico played Zeus, who had a staggering 250 HP. "Strength against water," he noted.

I frowned. Although Poseidon had been useful so far, most of his attacks were useless, especially against such an OP card like Zeus. Wow, I was really getting into this, wasn't I? Seeing any attacks from Poseidon would be futile, I rummaged through the deck until I found Harpy. I placed it.

Nico smirked. "Zeus's lightning flash electrocutes the water, causing Poseidon 20 self-damage every turn. Also, Medusa turns Harpy to stone. Harpy falls from hundreds of feet above the ground and shatters into pieces. Harpy is completely disabled until she is reassembled and turned back into flesh."

I groaned. That had been my last card. "All right, I'm gonna use Anaklusmos."

"Poseidon does 20 damage to Medusa, she has 20 left. Medusa turns Poseidon to stone so that he can await his final agonies trapped inside rigid rock. Skip your turn, and 20 self damage wipes out Poseidon. I win!"

"You sure you didn't cheat?" I asked.

"Nope! It's all right here!" Nico held up a thick pocketbook.

"All right, all right. Oh, hey! Were you at capture-the-flag?"

Almost instantly, Nico hunched and turned away from me, like he'd been before. "No… I wasn't."

I sighed. "Why did you do that? Did I say something?"

"What?"

"You were just all excited, and then all of a sudden you got all antisocial again."

"Oh. I don't get excited often. This is... normal me," he mumbled. "That was just a different side that doesn't come out often." I looked at him, contemplating. This was an interesting boy. I knew that something had happened to him. He used to be now he'd been with the Mythomagic all the time, but something had changed. There was a good chance it had been his sister. On top of that, social seclusion. Interestingly enough, I had found all of that out within the first minutes of meeting him and he'd hardly told me anything. I pitied him, though. Maybe I could help him be happier. Because I loved watching him smile. It made me feel good.

I knew one thing for sure: I definitely wanted to talk to this kid some more.

* * *

 **End Notes:**

 **This was a fun chapter to write with the action and Percabeth. Percy and Annabeth are on good terms now, and they're only going to go up from there. Also, we have some Percy and Nico interaction. I do like to have some cute Percy and Nico moments, but I asure you, Percabeth is the main ship.**

 **Next chapter is titled: Nico.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Nico

**Hey, guys! This came out later than I'd hoped, but with a week-long vacation, I did what I could. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Jodanfritz - Thank you, and I'm glad you're liking the story!**

 **TMarieG - Thank you! I'm so glad I did the Grover scene right! We had a nice conversation through PM, and I'm so glad you believe in me!**

 **LReality - Hey, buddy! Guess I'm not the only crazy guy who likes SVTFOE and PJO! ;) Glad you liked it, and, while Will isn't a key character, I gave him an appearance in this chapter for you. :)**

 **Here we go!**

* * *

Next I had canoeing, so I headed over toward the lake. I tried to watch Nico, but he was lost in the crowd (he had probably tried to be). When I finally got to the lake, I bumped into someone. I started to apologize until I looked down to see Nico. I could've sworn he smiled, but before I could be sure he stalked away.

When 6:30 came, a naiad in the center of the lake began barking directions. "First, pair up and pick a canoe."

It happened how it always does. Whenever the teacher ever had us pick partners, I just stood there, and no one approached me. I had learned long ago that asking to be someone's partner never worked because no one ever wanted me as a partner. I usually ended up with a third wheel who had taken so long arguing with their friends over who would get who that everyone had already paired up.

But it didn't happen that way this time. For the first time I could remember, someone else responded just like me, staying back and waiting for the last straggler to group with. It was Nico. Everyone had now paired up and stood at the shoreline with their canoes next to them—everyone except Nico and me. Nico saw me and scowled, dropping his head so his bangs covered his eyes. I smiled and came over to him then lead him to a blue canoe. He sat inside begrudgingly, still keeping his head down.

"I hate blue, you know," he complained. (He later admitted that he rather likes blue and was just being grumpy.)

"Aw, don't be such a downer. Besides, blue is awesome!"

"Black is _much_ better."

"Oh, come on. Blue is like, the color of the ocean. And water. And what's better than water?"

"Anything."

"Well, your body is made up of over seventy percent water, and without water, you'll die."

"Oh, and that'd be _so_ much worse, now wouldn't it?" Nico said sarcastically.

I looked at him. He was the son of the god of death and everything, but that was a bit far. "Y-you alright?"

"You don't wanna know."

"Oh, but I do want to know."

Nico was saved by the naiad barking orders again. "Push your canoes into the water and get inside!"

All down the shoreline, pairs worked together to push the boat, but Nico just sat inside the boat and stared at me. "You gonna push?"

I sighed then started the painstaking process of pushing the canoe with Nico's added weight. But Nico got a sly smile on his face, and that made it all worth it. I plopped myself in across from Nico and leaned in toward him. Nico backed away so that the distance wasn't any less. _Why do you do this, Nico?!_ I thought, looking into the sky as if to ask the heavens for answers. I decided I'd just have to deal with the space. "Anyway, you were about to tell me if you're alright."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

Seeing this was getting nowhere, he changed the topic. "Why do you even care so much?! Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I _like_ you, Nico."

Nico flinched. His brown eyes were huge and filled with an expression between immense fear and the expression he'd worn while he had played Mythomagic.

No, he didn't think I meant…. I tried to recover tactfully. "I really want to be your friend, Nico."

His confused expression dissipated back into his typical pessimism, but there was a hint of… hope—or was it relief… in his eyes.

The naiad explained that they would be racing and organized the group into two heats. Percy and Nico were in the second heat, so they got to sit around while the other heat raced in the first race. Some of the other pairs prepared for their race, but Percy was more intent on trying to figure out Nico. "So, tell me your tragic backstory."

"No."

"Fine, just tell me _anything_ about yourself, please!"

"Hmm. I'm a male. My favorite color is black. Oh, also I'm really white. Good enough?"

"No, I know those things already. Tell me something about your family, or—"

Nico flinched again. Now I just felt like I was stepping all over him. I put my hand on his shoulder, but he batted it away.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "Sore spot, I guess. I'm just trying to learn more about you, is all. So that I don't step on your toes like this."

Nico threw up his hands. "Well, if you're so intent on it, why don't you interrogate me after we get out of this stupid canoe so that we can have a normal conversation without bobbing up and down and constantly bumping into things?"

It was obviously just an excuse to put it off, but I complied, throwing it back at him, "I'll see you at your cabin after this, then."

"Oh, no you won't."

Our argument was interrupted by the naiad. "Heat two, line up!"

Nico and I paddled to the start, lining up with all the other boats.

I turned forward in the seat but then looked back at Nico. "So you paddle on the left first, and I'll paddle on the right, then we'll alternate—"

"I know how to row, idiot." I wasn't offended by the insult; if anything it made me smile for some reason.

In the middle of the lake, the naiad counted down, "3, 2, 1, go!" She dove into the water and resurfaced behind the finish.

Nico and I immediately started paddling. I started paddling on the left (that is what I said, right?), but Nico also paddled left, sending our boat spinning into the one next to us.

"Percy!" Nico shouted.

"Sorry!" I honestly had no idea what to do now, so I just paddled right. Nico did the same. I paddled left, and Nico paddled right again to compensate.

"You really are an idiot," he muttered.

"First time," I replied.

Nico grumbled something, but I couldn't hear it. We continued paddling, now having better synchrony. We actually made pretty good time, getting third. However, I suspect it was only because no one else had actually tried.

"Hey, third; pretty good!" I said as we paddled back to the other end of the lake.

"Would've gotten first if you hadn't screwed up the start," Nico grumbled back.

"Aw, c'mon, third's pretty good."

"That's all for today!" shouted the naiad. "Good grief, now I can get some rest."

I tried to stay with Nico, but again he seemed to disappear.

We had free time next, so, as promised, I headed over to Cabin 13. I don't know how, but he must've gotten there before me because the door was locked. Classic Nico. I tried knocking, but no one answered.

I looked up at the sky. I should really have been getting back by then. The sun had just about set, and the stars were coming out. I didn't know my way around this place, and I didn't want to have to navigate by way in the dark. Plus, I'd be dead meat if another hellhound showed up. But… I really wanted to get in and talk with Nico. This strange need to understand the boy overcame my fear, and I put all my efforts toward getting inside.

I kicked the door. That did nothing. I was honestly at a loss when I remembered something—water! I drew water from the stream nearby, making it swirl around me. I honestly had no idea I could do this. My powers were definitely growing at an alarming rate, but all I was focused in at the moment was getting in the door. I sent the water in the gap between the door and the door frame, using the water pressure to slide the deadbolt back inside the door. The door is unlocked, I turned the handle and walked straight in.

Whoa. The brothers weren't kidding when they had told me his place was creepy. Like, seriously, there was something messed up with this kid. The whole room was pitch black with obsidian walls, except for odd green fire burning in torches on either side of me. A skull hung down from the ceiling just inside the doorway, staring down at me. As I walked in, I saw, in the dim green firelight, Nico, curled up in one of two beds.

But one thing stood out like a bright beacon in the dark. One frame encased a picture of a smiling, happy Nico, a few years younger than he was now, with his arm around a girl who shared traits with him. She was wearing a floppy green hat that obscured some of her face, but I could see the dark eyes she shared with Nico, and the silky dark hair. She had an olive complexion, but Nico was so unnaturally pale that I wondered if he had once had that same skin color. So this must be the Bianca he had mentioned. But the frame was facing the wall, as if Nico had been reluctant to put it away but no longer wanted to see it.

I sat down on the bed as Nico grumbled, "Can't you take a hint, Jackson? Locked door means stay out!"

"Wait," I stopped him, "I never told you my name." Well, I guess it's no wonder I have no social life.

"Everyone who listens knows your name from the hellhound incident."

Okay? This was kind of a new thing for me. Usually people barely noticed me, but now I was being talked about all over camp. And in a good way, too; they were probably talking about how cool it was that I battled a hellhound on my first da and won. At the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted all that attention. "Uh, all right."

The silence grew, and I felt the need to break it: "You know why I came, right?"

Nico groaned, dropping his head so his face was covered with his hair.

"You know…" I continued, "up until now, I've only had one friend, and it turned out to be one of the goat people—"

"Satyr."

"Just one of those _satyrs_ who you send out to stalk demigods."

I expected Nico to respond, but he just lifted his head and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't really think of myself as an antisocial person, it's just that I… couldn't fit in. My mom always told me: 'stay true to yourself, and friends will come."

"Well that's a fat lie."

A third voice came from behind us: "But hey, if you don't embrace your differences, then you can't be a demigod. I thought I recognized it.

Oh god, could it be _them_? I nervously drew and uncapped _Riptide_. Nico cocked his head. "Why—"

"I forgot to mention: there's someone in this camp trying to murder me. The chances are slim, but if they tracked me here…" I whispered.

Will Solace, the medic who I'd seen immediately after waking up in the Big House, stepped into view. I quickly capped replaced _Riptide_ in my pocket.

"Solace," Nico said in a long groan.

"Ah, you know him?" I asked.

"Ex-boyfriend," Nico muttered.

"But we're still friends," Will added. **(A/N: I'm so sorry, Solangelo shippers!**

 **They broke up on good terms. But I promise Nico will end up with someone good for him. :) )**

"Oh, so you're—" I caught myself. "I guess that's one reason why you feel so isolated. C'mon, tell me." I didn't have a problem with homosexuality-I embraced it, in fact, but I saw how that could make Nico feel excluded.

"No," Nico refused.

"I just told you my sob story. It wasn't that hard. C'mon, Nico, you can trust me. Tell me what's going on."

"Nico, you gotta make some friends. I saw you two at lunch, and Percy's a good guy. Just let it out. Tell him what you've told me."

"Where do I even start?" Nico murmured.

"Bianca," I suggested.

Nico grumbled and covered his face with his bangs. He did that a lot. "Bianca… was my sister. And my mother. She was the only family I had." Now that he had started, the words came out easily, tumbling over each other. "My… my mother was killed in an incident Bianca and I barely managed to escape, that's all Hades is willing to tell me. Then Hades had us dipped in the River Lethe to erase our memories, and then he stuck us in the Lotus Hotel, where time slows. I spent decades there, but it only felt like a year. Then we were found by a team of demigods on a quest and brought back here. Thinking I finally had home, Bianca immediately left to join the Hunters of Artemis. I felt so abandoned and lonely. I was the only child of Hades. Hades himself was cast from Olympus and generally hated by the gods-I think that's why we were almost killed. But the prejudice spread to demigods, too, and I always felt excluded and hated. When I lost my sister-that's when I became… like this." Nico looked down at his black skeletal clothing and the pale skin on his arms.

"I've been getting paler since I got here." He sighed. "I… I only saw Bianca once after she joined the Hunters. I begged her to stay, I told her I was isolated and depressed. She only told me one thing, the same thing you just said: 'All you have to do is be yourself, and you'll get friends.' She suggested I come out about my homosexuality. So I did. I expected it to be welcomed. Everyone who already knew told me that it was different now, that people wouldn't judge. And it's all utter BS. Everyone thought I was disgusting and perverted and unnatural-"

"But I don't think of you like that," I interrupted.

The interruption surprised Nico, and he looked up at me through his bangs with a small smile. I almost said 'Continue' but caught myself, realizing that this was one of those rare happy moments and not wanting to send him back into his miserable story.

We held each other's gaze, not even feeling awkward about it. Actually, he looked kinda cute like that. Okay, not in _that_ way. Dang, that came off wrong. Cute like a puppy, all right? He looked so innocent, to innocent to have borne all of this hardship. But it was great to see him smile for once.

After a few moments, Nico's eyes darted to Will and back again, and he continued, "She left again with all the other visiting Hunters, and I was devastated. Then, a week later, a Huntress names Phoebe showed up a outside my cabin. I remember the day, August 25, 2015. She knocked on my door. I told her to go away. She told me it was important, so I opened the door, and she told me that my sister was dead.

"I went into the Underworld in hopes of finding her, hoping I could bring her back or at least see her happy in Elysium. But I found that she had put herself up for rebirth. Why, I'll never know. She must've known that, being the son of Hades, I'd come to look for her. But no, she didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye. I went down into the Underworld immediately after Phoebe left, but she was already gone. She could've at least waited so I could see her again! I just felt—no, still feel abandoned by her. Why did she, my only family, the only person who accepted me, why did she leave me? She left me for the Hunters and she left me for rebirth. Do I mean nothing to her?"

I didn't quite know what to say, so I just scooted over and put my arms around him. Nico tried to shake me off but ultimately failed. He had a grumpy expression, but his eyes showed otherwise. They looked up at me in gratefulness and… admiration, maybe, despite his outward appearance. "C'mon, let yourself be happy, Nico." His body relaxed, and he hid a smile with his bangs.

"Why do you do that so often?"

"What?"

"Covering your face with your hair."

Nico sighed, but he seemed less reluctant than before. "Y'know, to hide my emotions. My hair used to be shorter, but I grew it out and gained the habit."

"Well, you don't have to hide anything around me." I embraced him, and he buried his head in my chest. "Th-thank you."

"'Course"

I wanted that moment to last forever, but I realized something and snapped my eyes open, looking over to Will. He was gone. After seeing that, I looked back down at Nico contently.

"You all right?" I asked him.

"Better. I'm not sure I'll ever be all right, but I'm better."

"I'll always be here to help."

Nico pulled away, satisfied with the sentiment. "You should probably be getting back now."

"Um, well… I was serious about there being someone here trying to murder me. I-I'm kinda scared to go out there alone in the dark, barely even knowing where I'm going."

I don't know what I hoped for him to say, but I smiled at his answer. "I'll take you."

"Thanks…" a thought occurred to me, "but I don't want to put you in danger. Are you sure you can defend both of us?"

Nico rolled his eyes."I'm not taking you _out there_ , I'm taking you the shorter way."

Before I could ask him what in Hades he was talking about, Nico took my hand and pulled me into the faint shadow of the bed cast by the green-fire torches.

Like, literally, into.

I found myself enveloped in pitch-black shadow. It was so dark that I couldn't see my hand even directly in front of my eyeball. The only consolation was Nico's tight grip, which was the only thing that quelled my rising panic.

It wasn't that long, but it felt like it had lasted forever. When Nico and I tumbled into Cabin 3, I let out a long-held breath. But something, for whatever reason, caught my eye: a calendar in the corner of the cabin. Every day was marked with an "X" up to August 17th.

"Hey, it's my birthday tomorrow!"

"Really? Hmm…. Well, goodnight, Percy."

He left through the shadows before I could turn back around.

The wear finally catching up with me, I lay down on the single bed in the room and feel asleep almost immediately.

ΩΩΩΩΩ

I woke up to see a person standing directly over me. I jumped so badly that I banged my head on the coral-resembling headboard. "Ow…" But there was only one person who should've been able to get into my room, and that was—

"Morning," Nico said bluntly.

"What the Hades are you doing here?" I grumbled irritably.

"Joy, you're turning into me."

I sighed. "Do you normally stalk people in their sleep?"

"Just today. Did you think I forgot?"  
"My birthday. Right."

He must have noticed my utter lack of enthusiasm. "Somethin' wrong?"

"Well, it'll be the first birthday I've spent without my mom. And it's not like there's many people to celebrate it with."

Nico got a dangerous smile. It that what he always looked like when he got an idea? "I can fix that."

"What?"  
'I'll take you home! C'mon, grab my hand."

"Uh… all right-ahhhhhhh!"

We fell into the shadows again, and again I lost my sight. I was so surprised that I lost my grip on Nico. I pinwheeled my arms and kicked at the air, but it did nothing. "Nico! Nico!"  
I suddenly felt his hand on my leg. "I got you, just hold on." His finally face came into view and I relaxed. "You know, Percy, it would've been a _lot_ easier to keep hold of you if you weren't squirming around like an octopus having a seizure."

"Um, yeah-"  
They were interrupted by a scream.

Nico's eyes darted around in a panic. "Who was that?"  
"That was my mom."

Sally finally came to her senses after seeing two boys appear inside of her living room. "Oh, Percy! Thank the gods it's you!"  
 _Gods_. "Wait, mom, you knew about the gods all along? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Well, yes. But if I told you, you'd have to go to camp."

I sighed. "Anyway, this is Nico, my friend. He was the one who made us appear here out of thin air."

"Pleasure to meet you," Sally said and extended her hand to shake.

Nico just stared down at the hand, frowning, and just said, "Same."

Sally was unfazed. "Was that shadow-traveling? Hades, huh?"

Great, so my mom knew more than even I did.

Nico nodded curtly.

"Anyway, what are you two doing here?"

"Mom, it's my birthday!" I reminded her.

She raised an eyebrow. "And?"  
"Well, I kinda wanted to celebrate it with you. "

Sally crossed her arms, then sighed. "Oh, alright. For that, I'll let you stay as long as you promise to go straight back to camp after we're done."  
I smiled. "All right, promise."

Sally disappeared into the kitchen and came back moments later carrying a platter sprawling with blue cookies. "I made them earlier," she explained, setting them down on the coffee table. "I was planning to send them to you by hippocampus."  
"By what?" I asked, becoming increasingly annoyed about being out of the know.

"Horse-fish," Nico grunted.

Sally left again for the kitchen, this time coming back with three glasses. She sat across from Nico and Percy.

"All right, mom, I have a question for you," I said. "When and how did you learn about all this stuff."

"Poseidon told me everything. I was on the beach one day, and a man stepped out from the waves as if he had formed from the water of the ocean. We eventually fell in love, and I came back to the beach whenever I could to see him. Eventually, he told me about everything you will soon learn. He also endowed me with clear vision so that I could see who he really was. It also enabled me to see other mythological creatures and phenomena. I remember him taking me to ride on a hippocampus with him. It was exhilarating.

"But when I became pregnant, he told me that he would have to leave as soon as the baby was born. In the hospital, he came in as soon as they'd let him after you were born. He got a look at you and smiled widely. Then he said farewell and disappeared. I never saw him again."

"Wow. I mean, I didn't mean for you to give me your whole love story, but Poseidon told you, I guess. Also, most people can't see the mythological things?"

"No. The Mist obscures them from mortals-you aren't a mortal, you're a demigod, so you can see them. However, there are a few mortals with clear vision. No one really knows why. I think they might be descendants of people like me, who had a god open their eyes."

I clenched my fists against my temples. "Ugh, this is so confusing! "

"You'll get it eventually," Sally assured. "But now I get a question to ask you."

I groaned.

"I've seen you've made some friends, with… ah… Nico here. Anyone else?"

"Yeah, I guess. I met Connor and Travis Stoll, and we hung out together when I first got there."

Nico spat out his milk. "Connor and Travis! You kidding?! They're thieves and pranksters and—"

Sally promptly got up and disappeared behind us. "Hey, they're better than some of the Hermes."

"I'll give you that."

Sally returned with a spray bottle. She lifted the cookies and sprayed the table. The milk mixed into the substance, then all the liquid evaporated, leaving the table shiny and clean. "It's a gift from your father," she explained to me. "You won't _believe_ how much it helps with dishes and cleaning up Gabe's messes!"

My mood darkened at the mention of my stepfather's name. "Oh yeah, where is he?"

Sally got a smirk on her face. "I filed for divorce after you left. It's not official yet, but right now he's out somewhere, probably drinking. With you at camp, I don't need him around anymore to protect you."  
" _Protect_ me?" I asked in disbelief.

"He reeks; we both know that. His odor masked your demigod scent so that monsters couldn't find you. That's the only reason I beared him." **(A/N: Yes,** _ **bore**_ **is correct, but** _ **beared**_ **is more colloquial and less confusing.)**

"Wow… thanks." I had always that that her putting up with Gabe was out of some form of loneliness, but it had really all been to protect me.

"You're welcome, dear." She took a cookie. That reminded me that I hadn't had a single cookie (neither had my mom, for that matter). I looked down to find alarmingly few cookies. I side-eyed Nico, and he quickly hid behind his hair. However, a sly smile grew on his face.

"All right, you're off the hook, but the rest are mine." Sally gave me a look. "And mom's."

A short silence followed, which was broken by Sally, who wore a smirk. "One more question. Any girls you like?"

The question caught me off guard, and I didn't respond.

Instead, Nico fake-coughed, failing horribly to mask the name "Annabeth."

I shut my eyes tight in annoyance and sighed. "She… she ha a boyfriend."

"Oh, c'mon, everyone knows she's just waiting the chance to let down Luke gently."

"But still, that's wrong."  
"It's not wrong to crush on a girl with a boyfriend, it's wrong to _flirt_ with a girl who has a boyfriend."  
"Ah, whatever. I never even said I liked her anyway."  
Sally just watched the whole interaction with an amused smile.

The moment was ruined when Nico demanded, "We have to go. Now."

I'll admit, I did feel a sense of alertness, like I'd felt with the hellhound, or when my ADHD was acting up. But still, I didn't want to leave. Plus, it was rude. "Oh, c'mon, Nico, we just got here! Shouldn't we stay a little longer?" I shot my mom an _I'm sorry about my rude friend_ look.

To my surprise, my mom shook her head. "Trust your demigod instincts. If a monster's coming, then I don't want to be in the middle of it. After all, I just cleaned," she said with a frown. "Go on and shadow-travel back."

Nico grabbed my arm and practically dragged me into the shadow behind the couch. Just before I re-entered the realm of shadow, I got out: "Goodbye, Mom!"

Then we were enveloped in darkness, and my vision disappeared. I held tightly to Nico. I was so desperate to not lose hold of him that I wrapped my body around him tightly.

We tumbled to the ground moments later in Cabin 13. We opened our eyes at the same time and quite quickly realized that we were staring into each other's. I got up quickly, muttering, "Well, that was awkward."

Nico, however, still seemed enraptured in my eyes. He shifted his gaze and continued to stare into them until he finally shook his head, his cheeks flushing red.

"What—"

"Nothing!" he interrupted. "A-anyway, I have something for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace made of dark stones. It reminded me of one of those Hawaiian nut leis except shorted and with smaller stones. But the thing that came to mind was Grover's seashell necklace that I had crushed yesterday. As I took it and placed it around my neck, I had a very clear thought: I wouldn't ever need to crush this one.

ΩΩΩΩΩ

I was walking back to me cabin when I heard—

"Hey, _Seaweed Brain_." I turned to see Annabeth, who was smirking at her clever nickname.

"All right, _Wise Girl_ ," I traded back. "What is it?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes playfully at her new name. "Where were you this morning? I couldn't find you anywhere at breakfast!"

"I was… visiting my mom."

"Interesting. Because Luke is, too! He's gone for the day."

I internally beamed. This was my chance.

* * *

 **End notes:**

 **That's it! Sorry for all that Nico and Percy stuff, but I promise it was needed for the setup of the story! Little Percabeth teaser at the end, though! :)**

 **Next chapter is called "Annabeth," and it's all Percabeth to make up for the lack of it in this chapter! With Luke gone, Percy's ready to take the opportunity for Annabeth to warm up with her, and we all know Annabeth is far to organized to possibly miss something like a friend's birthday. Wait and find out!**

 **Thank you for all your support on this story! I put a story on hiatus and swapped it to go before another to get it out! Sadly, I feel like I'm letting down my other readers a bit with my other stories. So… mid-April? Maybe later?**

 **Also, I really need some feedback on this chapter. I spent a lot of time trying to get Nico's character right. He isn't exactly canon; he should be a little more open because of Will. But otherwise, do you think I wrote him well? Thanks for any feedback!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Annabeth

**First of all, sooooooorrrrrryyyyy! I've been entirely dead for the last few months, but I assure you that things are getting back on track. Now that we're just about into the meat of this story, I'll (hopefully) get less distracted. Now for something else:**

 **As I've been writing this story, I've found it's increasingly necessary to tell where everyone else is on the timeline, because some things have happened how they did in canon, some happened differently, and some didn't happen at all. Many of these are mentioned throughout the story, but to make it easier for you I'll just provide you a quick list:**

 **\- Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia arrived at camp exactly how they did in canon. The only difference is that they've stayed at camp for a few more years now.**

 **\- Cabins 13-20 have been built already (this includes Hades, Iris, Hypnos)**

 **\- Nico and Bianca have already been rescued from the Lotus Hotel. Nico is now 15-ish.**

 **\- Bianca has already joined the Hunters and died. On the plus side, Nico doesn't hold a grudge with Percy.**

 **\- Nico and Will got together, but because of Will's overprotectiveness, Nico broke up with him, saying they could still be friends as long as Will let him be alone.**

 **\- Rachel Elizabeth Dare is the current Oracle of Delphi.**

 **\- Thalia is still a tree.**

 **\- Hazel is still dead, Piper and Leo are at Camp Half-Blood but haven't done anything yet, and Jason, Frank, and Reyna are chilling at Camp Jupiter.**

 **I think that just about settles it. Onward with the story!**

* * *

"So, why did you want to come hang out with me?"

"Well, I had to tell you happy birthday."

"How…"

"Nico seemed insistent that I tell you, although I'm not sure why. And I'm honestly afraid to cross the Death Kid."

I laughed. "But seriously, don't you have any better friends you'd rather hang out with?"

Annabeth stopped in her tracks. After a long while, she responded defensively, "I choose to focus on my studies."

But I knew what she really meant. She invested everything into Luke. Now that Thalia was gone, she clutched onto the remaining one, Luke, and was afraid to lose him, too. But, well… Luke wasn't the nicest guy, of course. And like everyone told me, their relationship must be rocky.

"Still though, you don't seem like the type to be all friendly to me—"

Aaaaand she snapped. "Look, _Water Boy_ ," she said with distaste, "Are you _trying_ to irritate me or are you just tactless? Either way, if you keep it up, I can show you _un_ friendly I can be!"

I looked down guiltily. "Sorry."

Annabeth sighed. "A few months ago, a girl came to the camp. Daughter of Hypnos. She seemed pretty depressed and lonely. No one talked to her when she came. She was pretty scared, I guess, finding out about being a demigod. She asked me if we could talk… and I said I had better things to do. The next day, I found out she committed suicide.

"There! Now you know, so you can stop bothering me about it."

"You can't blame yourself for that. It wasn't your fault!"

"I know, but I _could've_ prevented it. So now I'm making sure it doesn't happen again."

Half of my brain wanted to say, "You don't have to worry about me." But then she might ditch me.

The other half wanted to start dancing around maniacally and say, "I'm suicidal! I'm suicidal!" But that probably wouldn't get me the desired result.

Instead, I settled for, "That's cool of you. That you… care. What would be the fancy word? Admirable. It's admirable."

Annabeth tried to resist a smile, but I saw a smirk. She shook her head, sending her hair flying back and forth. I also failed to contain a smile.

Somewhere to our right, from behind the Demeter cabin, came voices:

"It's happening! Percabeth forever!"

"I knew it! I knew it all along!"

"You did not! I was the one who came up with it!"

"No way, I—"

Travis and Connor were cut off by a powerful stream of water that rose up from the nearby river and knocked them off their feet.

As Annabeth and I walked past the cabin, they came into view, sopping wet. They gave me a look that said: _Betrayal!_

I just shrugged at them: _Sorry. I couldn't help it!_

Once they were out of earshot, Annabeth whispered, "Okay, that was cool."

I smirked. "You're starting to like me, aren't you?" I punched her shoulder lightly.

"Am not!" She punched my shoulder, hard.

I put my hands up in surrender. "All right, all right, you win."

Annabeth lifted her chin triumphantly. "Now, I've got canoeing to get to."

"Funny… I have canoeing too!"

She raised an eyebrow. "No you don't."

"I swear! I do! I can go show you!" The truth was, I had never looked at my schedule, but I knew that Annabeth wouldn't dare risk being late to take up my offer.

She considered for a moment. "Fine, whatever. Let's go."

As it was, we were two of the last ones to get there. Nearly every canoe was taken. There was an empty one to our left, and one with Clarisse La Rue sitting in it on our right.

"Well," I said, quirking an eyebrow. "It's me or Clarisse. Your choice."

"Ugh. I am so going to regret this." She headed toward the one on the left, and I followed her.

We waited for a few minutes in front of our canoe. Curious, I tried to see who ended up with Clarisse, but my view was obscured.

Then, at the naiad's command, we all pushed into the water. I sat in back, and Annabeth jumped up front. She started paddling, and I just stared at the paddle in my hands. Shrugging, I dipped the paddle in and pulled it through the water. Our boat careened to the right.

"Do you even know how to paddle a canoe?" Annabeth shouted back.

I shrugged. "Nope."

Annabeth sighed defeatedly. "Figures. Okay, now paddle left in three, two…"

I scrambled to maneuver my paddle to the other side, almost dropping it into the water.

"One."

I put the paddle under and yanked it through. This time, our boat only swerved to the left instead of careening, because Annabeth had paddled on the opposite side. But I still had the feeling that the canoe wasn't supposed to be leaning dangerously and filling with water.

"Easy," Annabeth said. "Now trade and paddle left. Three, two, one."

This time I just pulled it through the water instead of yanking it. We got a slightly better outcome; our boat went sort-of-straight. Still enough curving to almost crash into the canoe next to us, but less.

Also, I had watched Annabeth's stroke this time, only to see that it was hopelessly out-of-sync with mine.

Ah well. At least we were going in the right direction. It wasn't too bad.

That is, until I spotted Clarisse and another girl who looked familiar, but I couldn't recall who she was. They were paddling furiously at us from our right, on a collision course with us.

Annabeth was keeping the rhythm: "Stroke, stroke, stro—"

"Um, Annabeth?"

"What?" she said exasperatedly.

I pointed at the two oncoming girls.

Her eyes grew wide. "They're ramming us."

"They're _what_?!"

"Yeah, you know the other girl with Clarisse? That's Justice. She also happens to be the girl in the boat with me yesterday that you dumped in the water. She _also_ happens to be a daughter of Nemesis."

"What's Nemesis the god of?"

"Revenge."

"Oh." Now I saw her point.

Meanwhile, they were still coming directly at us.

"Left!" shouted Annabeth. "Turn left!"

I hurriedly paddled on the left as fast as I could. Instead of pulling a clean ninety degree turn like I thought, we did a full one-eighty, giving Clarisse and Justice a perfect angle to smash into our left side.

Then it happened. The canoe tipped. For a moment I couldn't tell up from down, and then I was submerged in the water. Annabeth came just after, but she was upside-down.

"You're upside-down!" I shouted at her. Somehow, water didn't get in my mouth, and my words were clear and audible.

I wasn't sure how to let Annabeth talk. (For me, it had kind of just happened.) So I just sort of thought to myself, _Let her talk_. It worked.

"No, _you're_ upside-down!" came her response.

That was when I banged my head on the sandy floor of the lake. I righted myself.

Before we could get a moment to breathe-um, a moment to rest, I mean-Clarisse and Justice started shoving their paddles down into the water from above us. One struck my head. I blew bubbles into the water. Quickly looking around, I grabbed onto Annabeth and willed the water to shoot us away.

Did it feel stupid trying to command a body of water to make it do what you want? Yes. Was it effective? Yes.

The two of us soared through the water. To my surprise, Annabeth let out a whoop of exploration. Then she eyed me. "You know, Seaweed Brain, you get yourself into a lot of problems, but I will say you have a knack for getting out of them."

"Worth keeping around?"

Annabeth paused, thinking. She shook her head. "Almost."

"Aw great, what do I gotta do now?"

We surfaced, completely dry. Annabeth glanced down at her arm. "There was a cut there. Impressive." She paused. "Now, I was feeling like having some shrimp."

I spread my hands in front of me. "Your wish is my command."

Out of the sea rose a spout of water, landing in Annabeth's hand. When the water fell to the ground was a live, squirming shrimp. Annabeth made a face at it. "It's… alive."

"Why yes it is."

"What, you expect me to eat this?"

"Eat it? You never said anything about eating it, you just said you wanted to _have_ some."

Annabeth thought for a moment. Inevitably realizing I was right (I'm always right. Totally.), she sighed. "Fine, you get out of this one."

"Get back in your canoe, you two!" shouted the naiad.

I'd like to say I got better at rowing throughout the activity, but Annabeth assured me that I was just as awful at the end as when we'd started.

"You've really got to improve your canoeing skills," Annabeth lectured.

"Why? Why do I need canoeing skills?"

Annabeth shrugged. "You never know what you'll need on a quest."

"Have you ever even been on a quest?"

"One. That's more than most here can say."

At that I became genuinely interested. "What was it for?"

"Piper, Leo, and I rescued Nico and… Bianca," she explained, lowering her voice when saying the deceased girl's name. "Oh, and we also happened to find Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who's now our Oracle. See, there's this Great Prophecy that apparently can only be revealed in the presence of a child of each of the Big Three, which of course are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. We got a prophecy, called the Prophecy of Hades's Child, explaining to bring the Children of the Big Three to the Oracle, describing how to recover Nico and Bianca—did you know that they're over ninety years old? Long story for another time. The Prophecy of Hades' child also mentioned that Zeus's child was already here—that would almost certainly be Thalia—the girl in the pine tree. And it said that we were to await Poseidon's son, who would set everything into motion on his sixteenth birthday. Today."

I stared at her blankly and uncomprehendingly. "Forget I asked."

"The important part is, you're most likely getting tossed into a quest today."

"You're kidding."

"Not one bit."

"Oh gods, you were right. I'm not ready to go on a quest! What should I practice?"

"Umm…"

"Annabeth, what should I do?!" The panic in my voice rose.

"Probably… your godly talent. Practice water stuff, I guess. Diverse abilities are essential for a successful quest."

Diverse… abilities… essential… too many big words. At least I could understand _Practice water stuff_.

"Okay?"

Annabeth sighed. "I'll help you. I seem to have a knack for helping children of the Big Three with their powers. Thalia was pretty amazing, but you could say I taught her everything she knew. I've helped Nico quite a bit. Really, all three of your powers can be chalked up to telekinesis."

Again, with the big word. ( _Telekinesis_ , what in Hades did that mean?) "Well if you think you can help me—"

"I _know_ I can help you."

"Then let's see you try," I said with a smirk.

"You are _so_ on!"

ΩΩΩΩΩ

At the riverbank, Annabeth coached me. "Now, start by floating water from the river into here." She motioned toward a shallow puddle-sized hollow in the ground.

Easier said than done.

Attempt one: asking nicely. Not sure what else to do, I just sort of thought, _C'mon, water, float over there._ I thought harder. Still nothing.

Attempt two: concentrating. I closed my eyes, my tongue poking out, and directed all of my thought and will toward trying to get the water to move. Nothing.

"Okay… for one, closing your eyes certainly won't do you any good. How are you supposed to move the water around if you can't see it?"

"Any _advice_?"

"You're concentrating too much in the moving part of it rather than the water part. You're father's the god of water, so that's where you need to channel your energy to. You might feel a sort of connection to the water."

After a moment of concentrating, I felt what she mentioned. It was like having a Bluetooth connection with the water, almost. Like I could sense it's power and tell it what to do. "Okay, I got it."

"Now, envision the water rising up"—I started to close my eyes and envision it—"without closing your eyes! Some demigods find it helpful to use their hands."

"But how am I supposed to envision it without closing my eyes?"

"You don't want it to move in your mind, you want to move it in real life. So you shouldn't see it in your mind, but instead see it in the real world," she said as if it made any sense.

I knew asking for an explanation would only confuse me more, so I kept quiet and tried it with my eyes open. It was amazing! As I imagined it, it was already happening! I pictured a gallon or so of water slowly moving up out of the lake, and it complied. Unconsciously, my hands rose, as if conducting the water. Then I swept my hands to the left, toward the hollow Annabeth had mentioned. There was only one problem. The water was five feet feet off the ground. The hollow, however, was not. The only thing that _was_ five feet off the ground was Annabeth's face.

"You did that on purpose."

"I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"I didn't mean to, I swear."

"Whatever. Now dry me."

I willed the water to leave her, but it was trickier. The water was clinging to her, and there wasn't enough of it in one place. Frowning, I walked over and grabbed her wrist, and she was dry.

She sighed in relief. "Congratulations, you passed the second test. By the way, I'd be surprised if you could dry me from a distance. Usually you need contact to channel your powers into someone else. Now back to lesson one!"

And so it went.

My confidence grew somewhat as I managed to do what she ordered. Then again, there were a few I hadn't passed, like turning water vapor in the air into more effective water.

"Feel more confident?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging.

"Great. You seem ready enough. Now let's go tell Chiron it's your birthday."

"What? No way!"

She frowned. "We can't not tell him. Olympus could fall if we don't. The Titans seem to be the problem here, and they could easily bring down the gods if we do nothing."

"Then why don't the gods just do it?"

"To put it simply, the gods don't do anything. So we have to do everything for them."

"Why?"

"I don't know; ask them. Actually, no, never ask them that; that's a terrible idea."

"Then why do we even worry about it? It's _their_ problem."

"Trust me, you don't want the Titans taking over. For example, Kronos was afraid that his children, the gods, would overthrow him, so as they were born, he ate them."

I laughed. "Sorry, for a second I thought you said he _ate_ them."

"He did," she replied with a blank face.

"Oh. I guess I don't want him in charge."

"Yeah. None of us do."

"So I gotta do this then, huh? But you'll come too, right?"

She shook her head. "The Oracle asked for you, Nico, and Thalia. That's three. There's always three people on a quest. I see no reason why it would deviate from that now."

"Oh." I won't try to hide it: I wanted her to come for more reasons than one. But if there was no other way… I mean, at least I'd have Nico. That was really the only thing that made me okay with the whole arrangement. I'd have a friend, and if anything happened, he could just shadow-travel us somewhere safe. But still, having Annabeth as a helper, strategist, fighter, and most of all a friend, would mean everything. But I guess I would have to manage, then tell her all about it afterward.

She tried an encouraging smile. "You'll be fine. Most people make it back from quests alive."

"Was that supposed to comfort me?"

"You're a child of Poseidon. You'll be fine."

"I hope so."

And there we were. The Big House, as Annabeth called it, looked right in front of us. Annabeth walked up to the door, but I trailed behind. She opened it, then looked back at me. "C'mon!"

"Ugh," I grumbled, complying.

We went into a room that had a moving cheetah head on the wall. Inside, Chiron sat in his wheelchair, poring over pages scattered across the desk in front of him. He looked up as we entered, wheeling over to us. "Good afternoon, Annabeth. Ah, and Percy, Son of Poseidon, is it?"

"Um, yeah," I responded awkwardly.

"Now what is it?" the disguised centaur asked.

Annabeth started, "We came to tell you that it's Percy's sixteenth birthday, so we should probably—"

Chiron suddenly grew into his centaur form. "Already? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was giving Percy some lessons on his abilities. He seems to be doing well for a beginner."

"Yes yes, I good idea. But now we should certainly gather Rachel, Percy, and Nico at Thalia's Pine. You, Leo, and Piper should also attend, if you would."

"Of course. I'll get them."

"I'll get Nico," I offered.

"Then I shall fetch Rachel," Chiron concluded. "I shall see you shortly at the Pine." He cantered off.

Before Annabeth and I parted, I had to ask her, "What's all the rush for? We have until midnight."

"The difference between success and failure, life and death, could be a matter of hours or minutes. So we're giving you as much time as we can," she said, trying to put on a cheery tone at the end of it. It didn't help.

On that note, she left me to go find Nico. Not that he would provide any optimism.

I knocked on the door of Cabin 13, and a sleepy Nico answered. His hair was even more of a mess than usual, and he was rubbing his eyes. Which was surprising since it was almost noon, but also unsurprising because it was Nico. "So it's happening, then," he yawned, "The Great Prophecy?"

"Does everyone already know about this?"

"Of course everyone knows. Why else would someone send a hellhound at you?"

"Um, okay?"

"Well, let's go then," he said begrudgingly.

We both made the walk to Thalia's pine in tense silence. We both knew what would happen, but neither of us wanted to acknowledge it. When we crested the hill on which the pine tree stood, I saw Annabeth and Chiron there, standing to the left of the pine tree and facing us. I also got my first look at Piper and Leo, beside Annabeth, and Rachel, who was out in front of it all.

Leo was a scrawny boy, shorter than me. His skin was a dark tan, but I couldn't tell if it was his natural color or if it was from dirt, soot, and grime. My guess for his godly parent was definitely that Hef-a-something god of building things and fire. His brown hair, almost black from soot, curled around his ears. His goofy, sarcastic smile seemed permanently plastered on his face, but at the same time, I saw the weariness behind his eyes that Annabeth, Luke, and some of the other demigods possessed from having seen far too much for their age. But again, there was also a dancing fire of laughter and optimism. Overall, it seemed he had beaten down but hadn't let it get to him.

Piper stood just as tall as Leo and had a similar complexion, but she was clearly much cleaner. She carried a dagger and a strange-looking tube with her. Her eyes seemed to change, for a moment green like the trees then blue like the sky. Here, I saw a hard determination. Between that, her dagger, and her looks, I could tell that this girl got what she wanted. But she also carried that same sort of weariness like a soldier retired from battle. Both looked like they'd been through a lot.

Rachel, on the other hand, was tall and slim with a shock of red hair fanning out across her back. Her shirt was loose and had a few splotches of paint on it. Her jeans were covered in pen scribbles. If she was a demigod, it would be hard to place her. Was there a god of creativity?

As we approached, we attracted all the attention. When I say _we attracted all the attention_ , I mean everyone was staring at us. Nico chose that exact moment to stop walking and stand so still that I couldn't even pull him along. I tugged on his arm, getting nowhere. I finally turned around, leaned back, and put my whole body weight into it. Everyone was still staring uncomfortably at us, specifically me. "Um, hey guys," I said awkwardly.

Rachel raised her hand. "Hey."

"Okay… I'll be up there as soon as i can get Nico to move…." I looked at him. "C'mon, Nico, let's go!"

He shook his head.

"Please?"

He grumbled something under his breath that I couldn't hear but didn't move.

"Should I… help them?" I heard Piper ask Leo.

"I dunno, it's kinda funny."

"Leo…"

"Go for it."

Piper rose her voice and turned toward us. "Nico! Would you please walk up the hill and stand by the tree?"

Nico muttered something and crossed his arms but finally walked up to the pine. I followed him.

Seeing my puzzled look, Piper grinned and sang, " _Charm-speak_!"

"Basically, she can make you do whatever she wants," Leo explained, "so I'd be careful about making her mad. Trust me. Punching yourself _hurts_."

I nodded vigorously, not wanting to get punched myself… by myself.

Finally, we all took our positions, Nico and I to the right of the pine tree and Rachel right in front of us. I expected Rachel's eyes to begin to glow, for green light to emit from her body as she began chanting cryptic lyrics, like in the movies.

Instead, nothing happened.

And then it did.

* * *

 **There you have it! Next chapter is titled "Prophecy" (Whoa, bet you didn't see that coming.) In that chapter, we'll be discovering who exactly will be on this quest.**

 **On that note, in the description I said that an OC would be part of the quest. I've mentioned a few OCs in passing. One of them will be on the quest! Any guesses?**


	6. Chapter 6 - Prophecy

**Hey everyone! I know it's been a long time, but _A New Beginning_ is finally back! Hopefully people are still interested in this story!**

 **Oh, and I've also just started a full re-read of the series, so that should definitely help me stay more canon and in-character. Anyway, reviews! (Even though it's been so long, I think they still deserve to be acknowledged!**

 _ **DeadShow**_ **-** **Thanks!**

 _ **Alia** **Pace-Percabeth**_ **\- Ah, don't we all hate Lukabeth? Unfortunately, that won't stop Luke's manipulation and Annabeth's clinginess, so Lukabeth will exist for a little longer while we wait for Percabeth to flourish!**

 ** _FrictionFiction108_ \- Thank you for your detailed review! I'm glad you like my take on Percabeth, and I will keep your suggestions in mind! At this point, I am seriously considering including some POV swaps, although Percy will remain the focus. An Annabeth POV could in turn help me with laying the background for Lukabeth, which Percy can't provide since he's pretty much clueless about it. Piper and Leo won't be a very big part in this story—their appearances in the last chapter and this one are more of a cameo, really. However, one certain Roman demigod will play a larger role in this story! I'll let you speculate. ;)**

 **Anyway, I've rambled long enough. Let's get to the freakishly long prophecy!**

* * *

Rachel's distorted voice rang out loudly and clearly:

 _Five demigods shall unite when needed most.  
_ _One child from each of the three brothers, a Son of War, and a Daughter of Wit  
_ _Yet the girl with the pine host  
_ _The four first must get.  
_ _They shall journey to the cyclops's lair  
_ _To recover the fabric of sheep hair.  
_ _And yet the four shall not return  
_ _Till time in Tartarus is served._

 _On from where the girl in the pine once stood  
_ _With the reaping Titan on their heels  
_ _Down to the land not bad nor good  
_ _The once-dead girl once again feels  
_ _The key is found somewhere inside her  
_ _Only she can lead them away  
_ _From the very tempting lure  
_ _If she chooses wrong, with the world will the Titan play._

 _Journey through the elephant's jaws.  
_ _The Daughter of Death has the next clue  
_ _Without the traitor's past lost is the cause  
_ _The world and Time would start anew._

We all waited breathlessly for a fourth verse. It didn't come. Chiron was the first to speak up: "That was a very long prophecy. Free verse, too. Very strange."

"Even stranger," interjected Annabeth, "is that it calls for five. That's never happened before, has it?"

"It has happened, but it's rare, and it makes me wary. Nevertheless, we must trust the prophecy."

"So who are these five then?" I asked. I was visibly excited. Annabeth said she couldn't go because there would only be three, but she was wrong. I was also pretty sure _a Daughter of Wit_ had to be a daughter of Athena.

Annabeth was quick to respond. "One each of the big three has to be you, Nico, and Thalia, like we expected."

"And the other two…." I probed.

" _A Son of War_ has to be a son of Ares, and _A Daughter of Wit_ means… a daughter of Athena."

"You know what that means," Leo remarked, "quest number two for the Wise Girl!"

 _Wise Girl_ , I thought, smiling at the nickname. _I've got to start calling her that._

"Maybe not. There are other daughters of Athena."

Piper spoke up next. "C'mon Annabeth, you _know_ you're the best for the job. Plus, I can tell that Percy _really_ wants you to go with him." She winked at me.

I blinked rapidly and tried for a straight-faced eye roll, but I think a bit of red might've creeped in.

"All right," Annabeth decided. "We'll put it up for volunteers, and if we can't find anyone good enough, I'll go."

I again struggled to retain a straight face, but this time a stupid grin sneaked its way out.

"What about the rest of the prophecy?" Rachel wondered.

"The first stanza is easy," Annabeth explained. " _Yet the girl with the pine host/The four first must get_. That means we have to free Thalia, so she can go on the quest. " _They shall journey to the cyclops's lair/To steal the fabric of sheep hair._ " There's a word for a sheepskin, what is it… oh! A _fleece_! And the lair of a… of a cyclops… I know this legend; what is it…?"

"The Golden Fleece," Chiron supplied.

"Yes. The Golden Fleece. I bet you anything that'll heal Thalia. It's supposed to radiate powerful nature magic."

"What about that last part though?" Nico asked, finally participating in the conversation. " _And yet the four shall not return/Till time in Tartarus is served._ "

"I guess one or more of us will end up in Tartarus somehow," answered Annabeth. I didn't exactly know what "Tartarus" was, but I grinned in triumph anyway—she had said "us," so she must be pretty sure she was going. "Now, the second stanza starts to become vaguer. I can make sense of the first two lines, though. The first one is unhelpful. We're going to start at Thalia's Pine, since that's where the first stanza left us. The second one helps more. We're dealing with Kronos."

That seemed to be a heavy statement. Piper and Leo looked at each other, Chiron looked up at the sky, and Nico continued staring at the ground. Rachel's eyes widened, and she spoke: "How do we know it's Kronos? He's just the Titan of time, right?"

"He's the Titan of many things, including agriculture. His symbol is the scythe. I think it's safe to say that the 'reaping Titan' is Kronos."

"I second that," added Chiron. "Kronos is naturally an aggressor. Although he is banished to Tartarus, if he finds a mortal willing to host his form, he may be able to re-emerge with much of his original essence and power."

"So, are we talking mortal-mortals or the demigod variety?" asked Leo.

"Most likely a demigod or clear-seeing mortal. They must be aware of Kronos's existence in order to host him."

"But who would do something like that?" questioned Piper.

"The same person who would send a hellhound at me," I said.

"True," responded Annabeth musingly, "and hellhounds come from the Underworld."

Everyone immediately turned to Nico. He took a few steps backward and hid his eyes behind his bangs. "Hey! Those things run around wild, too!"

I stepped in front of my friend. "Nico would never do that!"

Leo cut in. "Sorry dude, but I don't think you have all that much authority here, considering you've only been here for one day."

"Actually," Chiron interrupted Leo's (particularly rude, if I do say so myself) interruption, "I think Percy here knows Nico better than anyone else in this camp. His judgement is at least worth considering."

"Guys!" Annabeth shouted. "Calm down! Nico is one of the five! So therefore, he can't be the villain here."

I smiled. "Thanks, Wise Girl."

She raised her eyebrows dangerously. "That was neither a concession _nor_ a favor, that was purely objective fact!"

I just shrugged in return, my smile not wavering.

"Also," said Rachel, getting us back on track, "there _is_ mention of a Daughter of Death."

Annabeth winced. "I don't even want to _try_ considering that last stanza."

"The strange thing is that it's a quatrain, while each of the others are an octave—"

"English please," interrupted Leo.

Rachel sighed. "The last one has four lines, while the others have eight. Stuff like that just doesn't happen in poems—especially prophecies, not without a reason. There's definitely something… different about it. My guess is that you'll come across something pretty drastic. Different from the rest of the quest."

"I'd say walking through an elephant's mouth is pretty different," remarked Annabeth.

"You know as well as I do that prophecies are cryptic," chided Rachel, "it could be a completely normal door that looks like an elephant's mouth. Or it could be some magical thing."

"I don't like the sound of 'Daughter of Death,' though. The only daughter of death that comes to mind is…." she glanced nervously at Nico.

"Bianca, right," he grumbled.

Annabeth seemed to have a sudden epiphany. "Wait, but this is good! _The once-dead girl once again feels?_ We're _bringing her back_!" Annabeth smiled. "First one revived friend, now two! I'm almost starting to like this quest!"

"You don't understand!" Nico shouted.

Annabeth stopped to let Nico continue, but he didn't. Everyone looked in his direction, but he just slumped, refusing to speak any more about it.

"Bianca has already been reborn," I explained after a long while.

Annabeth's confident smile melted into a pitying frown. "Oh. I'm… uh, sorry, Nico, I just assumed you were always in the Underworld because you were visiting her."

Chiron had been thinking silently the whole time and only now spoke up: "There are, of course, the other pantheons."

Annabeth blinked in confusion. "The _other_ pantheons?"

"The Romans, of course. Egyptians. Norse. And many others from Central and Eastern Asia to the native tribes of the Americas. Greek mythology is real, so naturally, so is all other mythology. I've heard reports from the Southeast, Houston, and other places of what seem to be people becoming frozen in time. It seems like something a demigod would be part of. Yet no demigods that I know of have been in either place recently."

"It could just be an unidentified daughter of Hades running around."

"You forget the agreement between the Big Three. Zeus and Poseidon have each broken it. Hades has not. He has the moral high ground. I doubt he would rescind that, especially seeing as he still has a living child."

Although most of them were skeptical, Rachel spoke up excitedly: "That makes perfect sense! That's why the final stanza is in quatrain! That section must be taking the quest to another pantheon, preferably one surprising and unexpected."

"Elephant…" Annabeth murmured.

"Oh, African Elephants!" Leo exclaimed. "So, like Kwanzaa-mythology?"  
Annabeth raised an annoyed eyebrow. "Kwanzaa is _not_ a religion."

Chiron finally cut in, "Hindu comes to mind. Elephants are particularly important to Hindu worship."

"I'll bring some books on Hinduism," Annabeth decided, and I was forced to suppress a smile. That was just so _her_. "What other pantheons are there?"

"Egyptians, although I know them well enough to be sure that they wouldn't intervene in our affairs unless the problem concerned both our pantheons. That covers the continent of Africa. There are the Native American tribal mythologies, such as the Maya, the Inca, and the Aztecs, predominantly the Maya. However, elephants have never been native to the Americas. On Asia there's Hindu, Chinese, Korean… among others. As for Europe, they have been largely Christian since the beginning of the common era. And I suppose Judaism existed throughout Europe, and Islam once dominated the southern Iberian Peninsula—"

I had tuned him out around "Africa," but apparently someone was still listening—*cough* *cough* Annabeth. "Is that possible? Is there a Christianity pantheon?"

"Monotheistic religions rarely translate well to the material world," was Chiron's response.

They rambled for who-knows-how-long. So much for "giving us as much time as possible," I supposed. I was finally brought back to Earth by a nudge from Nico. The first thing I heard when I started listening was an upset, "Percy!" from Annabeth

"Uh, yeah? Hehe…"

"Has Poseidon ever made contact with you?"

I thought back to one of my first memories—a man looking down on me with a warm smile—but discarded it as unimportant. "No."

"Not at all?"

I figured I'd only look more stupid if I changed my answer, so I attested, "No."

"Then Poseidon likely won't be much help."

"Leo, is _Argo II_ ready?"

"Yep. But ah… you don't actually expect me to let someone else man it, do you?"

"Do we have any _other_ boats?"

Leo sighed. "Annabeth, you're in charge. Instructions in the captain's quarters. Don't screw this up."

Annabeth looked a bit uncomfortable accepting the responsibility of an entire ship, which Leo seemed to hold close to his heart, but with a tentative smile she assured him, "I won't."

ΩΩΩΩΩ

Before I knew it, the whole camp was spread out below them, neatly divided into pie-slice sections, with the Athena and Ares campers making up the middle.

"As many of you know, the Great Prophecy was to be realized when the children of the Big Three were brought together on the sixteenth birthday of the Son of Poseidon, or so we predicted. It seems our predictions were correct. Today, we received the following prophecy:

He opened a scroll that someone had apparently written the prophecy on, and read the whole thing aloud. Then he rolled up the scroll and addressed the crowd. "As many of you have probably guessed, we need one volunteer each from the Athena and Ares cabins—"

"I volunteer!" shouted that Clarisse girl who had tried to ram our canoe.

There was an eruption of chatter, starting in the Ares wedge and quickly spreading to the rest of the campers. Chiron called for silence a few times, but I doubted anyone could hear him. Finally, Piper spoke in what sounded like a shout but felt more like a soft whisper: " _Quiet_!"

My mouth snapped shut as soon as her voice reached my ears, before I had even decided to close it.

"Thank you, Miss McLean," Chiron continued. "Now, unless I am mistaken, the prophecy called for a _son_ of Ares and a _daughter_ of Athena. Clarisse, since you are neither, I believe your participation on this quest would be inappropriate. Now, do I have any _male_ volunteers from Ares?

To my suprise, there was nothing but silence. Then a young boy, maybe fourteen, was pushed to the front against his will. With a start, I realized it was Jacob, the kid who had done a backflip near the archery range. He recalled what Travis had said about him: _Jacob's not too bad_. I sure hoped so.

"Jacob Guerrero, do you accept this quest?" Chiron asked.

Jacob nervously looked backward at his cabinmates, then took another step forward. "Um, yeah. I'll do it! I guess..." He shuffled up to where Nico and I stood atop Half-Blood Hill. I scanned over him quickly. He was tall and lanky—but still relatively muscled, as most of the campers seemed to be. His untidy yellow hair covered his eyebrows, but wasn't quite long enough to obscure his eyes, which were a deep chocolate brown and lacked the ferocity I'd seen in most children of Ares. Mostly, he looked about as terrified as I felt. "H-hey," he said tentatively. I picked up a slight accent—Mexican, maybe?

"Now for the female volunteer from the Athena cabin," Chiron continued.

After a long period of silence, Annabeth sighed, then stood a little taller. "I accept this quest."

"We have our heroes! Nico Di' Angelo, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Jacob Guerrero, soon to be joined by the spirit who lives in this very tree, Thalia Grace!"

That last statement left the whole audience reeling.

"Well, I'll go get the ship then," groaned Leo, although it was more of an annoyed groan than an angry one. "I swear, _one scratch_ …"

Annabeth shrugged. "No guarantees."

Leo trudged off to get the ship ready.

Piper looked to Annabeth. "May the gods be with you, Annabeth. And with you three, also, of course."

Annabeth replied with a sad smile, "I'll try to stay alive."

"Yeah, you do that." Then she leaned in and whispered some joke to Annabeth, glancing up at Nico, Jacob and me a few times as if sizing us up. I really hoped she didn't say something like, _If you're ever running from a monster, just trip one of them and save yourself._ Although, judging by Annabeth's uneasy laugh, I had a feeling that my guess was pretty close.

Then she ran off to keep up with Leo, and it was just us four.

Well, us four, nearly all of Camp Half-Blood, and Chiron, who announced gravely, "Say farewell to our four heroes. It may very well be the last chance you get."

I got the feeling that nobody much cared.

But as I looked between the four of us—strategy, brute force, teleporting and zombie stuff, and some cool water tricks—I really did believe we would make it through this together.

ΩΩΩΩΩ

"Whoa, that's a _ship_?"

I stared up at the _Argo II_ in amazement—yeah, that's right, _up_. It was floating about fifty feet above the ocean, near the shore where my three quest-mates, Leo, Piper, Chiron, and I stood.

"Say hello to the _Argo II_!" Leo called.

For one, it _flew_!

For two, it was massive, at least 200 feet long, with three banks of oars and a single sail that stretched so wide I couldn't see both ends of it without turning my head. Crossbows and cannons lined the gunwales, but my eyes were immediately drawn to the masthead, where a gleaming bronze dragon-head coughed up a plume of flame.

Leo apparently saw me staring at it. "Festus used to be a whole dragon. Got destroyed on the Quest for the Children of Hades, though. Shame, I really did like him. But we managed to salvage his head, so I put it up there."

"Whoa, you made this all _yourself_?"

"Well… pretty much," he responded with a smirk.

Piper shook her head. "The entire Cabin 9 has been working on it for years in anticipation of the Great Quest."

"Well yeah, but I was the most important one."

Piper rolled her eyes.

Leo went on about all the weapons and amenities of the ship, then brought Annabeth aside to talk her through how to man the ship. Her eyes lit up in delight when he handed her a user's manual, which she stuffed into a backpack full of books about Hindu mythology, architecture, and who knew what else, which she had apparently brought for some "light reading."

I don't think I'll ever quite understand her.

Chiron turned to address us again. "Do you all have your weapons?"

I felt for the pen form of _Riptide_ in my pocket. Nico gripped his Stygian Iron sword, _Thanatoskapsimo_ , or Deathslash. (Nico told me he thought naming swords was dumb, but Will has come up with the name when they were still together, and the name had grown on him.) Annabeth pulled out her dagger, which didn't have a name. (Yet. Although I rather liked names such as _The Scholarly Stabber_ , or _The Bookworm's Blade_.)

Jacob just clenched his fists.

"Magical objects?" Chiron added.

Annabeth nodded, tugging a floppy, worn Yankees cap from her back pocket. I realized that I'd never seen her with it before. "What's that do?" I asked her.

Instead of responding like a normal person, she put the cap on her head and vanished. I looked around at everyone else, who seemed rather unsurprised. "Am… am I the only one who just saw that?"

But they all just smirked at each other like they were sharing a joke. Well, all but Nico, who never smirked.

I jumped about twelve feet off the ground when I felt a hand on my shoulder, but when I looked behind me, there was no one there. Then I felt someone poke me in the gut and swiveled around, again finding no one there. It only took me a few more seconds to put two and two together.

"Annabeth! Stop that! Stop it!" I cried.

She finally took off her Yankees cap and appeared next to me, smirking. "Couldn't resist."

That apparently covered the magical objects, because Leo moved on, explaining that the ship was stockpiled with ambrosia and nectar, and reminding us not to take more than two squares of ambrosia or one canteen of nectar per hour. I hoped Annabeth was paying attention, because my eyes kept getting drawn to the enormous ship every time I tried to concentrate. Blame it on the ADHD.

I snapped back to attention when Chiron clapped his hands. "Well, I think that's it! We haven't any time to waste."

But just as we were walking onto the gangplank, Chiron called out to them, "One more thing: do not expect Zeus to be kind to you, especially with Percy and Nico on board. Zeus has always been wary of his brothers' children, even before they made the pact not to bear any more half-bloods. However tempting it may be, I strongly recommend to stay out of the air until Thalia is recovered. After all, the sea is Percy's domain."

"Thank you, Chiron," Annabeth responded. "Anything else?"

The centaur tapped a hoof in thought. After a moment, he decided, "No, that should be it. Good luck to all of you. Ah, and Percy?"

I turned to him nervously. "Yeah?"

"I know this is a lot to take in, given a very short amount of time. But if it makes you feel any better, I really do hope you don't die a horribly gruesome death."

"Oh… um, thanks." That certainly did _not_ make me feel better.

As we boarded the ship and Annabeth took the wheel, setting them down onto the water and sailing out of the bay, I couldn't help but wonder exactly what living Hades I had just gotten myself into.

* * *

 **Well, there it is! It's a bit short, but I wanted to end it there! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon!**

 **Oh, and for the chapter-title review, the next chapter will be titled "** A Quest Begins **." Not much of a giveaway, but I finally managed to get them going on the quest! Until next time!**


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